Chances by Time
by Mnsk
Summary: When the last hopes of winning the war are lost, Snape turns to his last resort. He takes Harry with him back in time to the year he first became a Death Eater, seeking to defeat Voldemort before he rose to his prime.
1. Pushed to the Edge

**Chances by Time - M****nsk**

**Disclaimer: **

These characters do not belong to me.

**Summary: **

When the last hopes of winning the war are lost, Snape turns to his last resort. He takes Harry with him back in time to the year he first became a Death Eater, seeking to defeat Voldemort before he rose to his prime while starting anew with Lily Evans. Suffering though humiliation and inter-house feud, Severus Snape tries to remake the future of the Wizarding World.

**Chapter One:**

For the second time in his life, Severus Snape was posed with a decision he did not know how to make.

In front of him was the Boy Who Lived, who looked, frankly, hopeless. Hopeless, terrified and pathetic. His green eyes were set above skin that was red, raw from scrubbing away the tears he had cried over Granger's death. He had a right to cry, he'd never paid particular attention to their relationship, but he know suspected that Harry had loved her. She'd died only moments ago, Severus himself had been watching from the window of the headmaster's office. She'd thrown herself in front of a killing curse from Amycus Carrow, blocking it from hitting one of the Weasleys. From that far up he had only seen red hair, but he suspected that the one who she had saved had been Ronald. He had also noted that another death eater had struck said Weasley down himself only moments after.

Seconds later he had heard the summons and had rushed here, to the Shrieking Shack where his master was waiting. The pull on his mark had not been effortless like his other summons, nor had it been urgent, as it was when the Dark Lord required information quickly. This pull had been slow and torturous, and he knew exactly why he'd been called.

What he hadn't expected was the presence of Potter, who had been standing outside the shack, wordless, his clothes covered in dirt from crawling through the secret passage under the Weeping Willow. He was carrying his wand in one hand and a small beaded pouch in the other, probably a keepsake of Granger's. The expression on his face was determined, but it wasn't hard for Severus to spot the magical exhaustion that had overtaken him from all the fighting.

Stupid, idiotic Potter. He'd probably escaped from the chaos at Hogwarts and come here in some sort of valiant effort for a final battle with the Dark Lord. Arrogant boy, in his current condition, he would be lucky to last a few seconds. Even if he could somehow overcome the fatigue, his mental state was far too unstable. The looked of slightly mad anger in his eyes would get him killed. His own job had now been made far too difficult due to the boy's presence. He had come here knowing that he would die; the anger in the Dark Lord's voice during the summons had wiped away all traces of doubt he could have had. His plan had been to buy time for as long as possible, stay alive through the torture long enough for the Order to finish the battle against his death eaters. They would have more of a chance if they didn't have to face both the Dark Lord and his followers at the same time.

He had even been prepared, leaving copies of some of his memories behind in Dumbledore's office, certain that Potter would find them and learn what the headmaster had wanted him to know. He had almost fulfilled his role in life, almost made it to the death he had been expecting for years…but it was hopeless now. The hatred he felt for Potter was now far beyond the dislike for the similarities he had with his father. Could this boy not see that he had destroyed the last hope he had?

"YOU!" Potter drew his wand and aimed it at his face, "Did you come to see your master?" He spat the words out.

"No, you fool. I came here to watch the clouds", he sneered back, not even reaching for his wand. In this state even he could defeat the boy in moments. To think this fool was the champion of the Wizarding World…

"I always knew you were a traitor! How could you betray Dumbledore, he believed in you!" The boy seemed to be furious.

There was only one option left, but it was hard to make. It was something that Severus had been contemplating for a long time. Of course, he had never planned to incorporate Potter in this option, but now it seemed inevitable. The Dark Lord had heard the boy's raised voice, and would exit the Shack any minute.

"What would you be willing to give up for the defeat of the Dark Lord, Potter? What would you sacrifice?" His voice was calm, betraying none of his inner hatred.

Potter's eyes blazed, he seemed to think the question had been referring to the losses he had faced in the war, "bastard! You have no idea…they're all dead! Fred, Remus, Tonks, …Hermione. They're dead because of this way, because they chose to support me. They knew what they were risking, and I know what I'm sacrificing as well. There's nothing I wouldn't do to kill Voldemort! Expelliarmus!"

Severus blocked the disarming spell wandlessly, the remaining shards of his faith in Harry Potter shattering. Faced by a man he thought was a death eater, and the first spell the boy could cast was Expelliarmus…in that moment he made his decision, and reached into his pocket.

Potter, seeming to think he was reaching for his wand, brandished his own again, "Sectumsempra!" It was ironic how close he had grown to the spell created by the man he hated.

He didn't spare a thought to block the attack, and allowed the spell to slash bloody streaks into his left shoulder while he brought out a small golden ball attached to a long chain, something that he had been working on for the past years without Albus's knowledge. Since Lily had died, it was the first magical project he had ever worked on without the express approval of the headmaster. As another Sectumsempra branded itself into his marked forearm, he unwound the long chain and slowly took one last look around him.

"Fight back you coward!" Potter snarled as he realized Snape was now doing nothing to block his attacks. A look of confusion spread across his face as he saw the golden ball with the chain, "what is that?"

The area around the Shrieking Shack was barren and cold, a fence isolating the building from the path that lead to Hogsmeade. For a moment Severus allowed himself to hope that maybe the Dark Lord hadn't heard them. Maybe he could just take Potter and go, leaving him somewhere safe before responding to the summons. Maybe he could just die like he had planned…

His thoughts were interrupted in the next moment, when a figure burst through the door of the Shack. Voldemort stood with a grin slowly spreading across his face, his slit-like nostrils flared in delight. His two victims were right in front of him, both tired and, in Harry Potter's case, nearly broken. He was so thrilled he never paid any attention at all to the golden ball in Severus's hand.

"Did you bring him here, Severus? Well done, my pet. It will not be enough to spare you, but you've made a worthy effort to regain my trust. Unfortunately, I do not want your life simply because I know what you've done, so you still won't be able to leave here alive", he eyes gleamed like a child's eyes on Christmas.

Potter, idiot that he was, reacted immediately.

"Avada Kedavra!"

The spell never left his wand. The Dark Lord grinned a snakelike smile. Severus knew exactly why it hadn't worked. It was an Unforgivable, and to cast one, you had to mean it. Harry's anger was too intermingled with grief, he would never be able to fight in this condition. Severus acted as fast as he could. He ran forward with the chain partly around his neck, approaching Harry from behind. Once he was close enough he threw the chain over Potter's neck and twisted the halves of the golden ball as quickly as he could, all the while terrified of his own decision. Oh Merlin…how had his one attempt of selfishness become a route to more torture? If this didn't work, at least he would die without the torture…

Harry never noticed the chain before it had already drooped over his neck; he was still staring at Voldemort. The last thing he heard was Voldemort shouting a killing curse, his wand pointed straight into Harry's chest…

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

When Severus woke, he was lying down in a park, thoroughly soaked by heavy, falling rain. Above him was the twilight sky, clear except for a crescent moon blurred by the rain in his eyes. For a moment, he let himself revel in the fact that it had worked; the grainy sand of the playground below him and the wetness of the water against his face were proof of that. Immediately after, he pulled himself up into a sitting position and looked around for Potter.

The boy was to his left, and by the look of it he had just woken as well. For a moment his eyes held a look of utter confusion at his whereabouts, and when he turned around and looked at Severus the confusion only deepened.

"Who are you?" He asked, "Where's Voldemort". He had not changed, he still looked like his seventeen-year-old self, dressed in the dirt-covered clothes and clutching the small beaded bag of Granger's like it was all he had left. Severus watched him patiently, knowing exactly what the boy saw. He would look at him and see a fifteen-year-old boy with shoulder-length black hair, dark eyes, and a nose that took up nearly a quarter of his face…Severus watched Potter's eyes widen in recognition.

"Are you Snape? What is this? Where is this place? I was fighting Voldemort!" Harry's expression was a mixture of anger and confusion. It was ridiculous. _Fighting _Voldemort. Was that what the boy thought he was doing? It was more like he was giving up, really. Not that there had been much hope, but Severus had been clinging to the last tendrils of it up until Potter had appeared at the Shack.

Severus couldn't help but allow the pent-up anger to escape, "you fool! Do you have any idea what you've done? You don't really think you could have stood an inkling of a chance? He would have blown you to pieces in seconds, and then gone for the rest of the Wizarding World. Did you want the rest of your precious friends to die just like Granger did?" The effect of the words was slightly dulled seeing as his fifteen year old self had not possessed the deep voice he would later gain, but it was enough for Potter to turn around and run away from him, not knowing how to handle anything in his own anger.

Even as he watched him move away in the rain, Severus could not bring himself to feel any remorse for what he had said. The boy was spoiled; he was brought up with everyone telling him that he was the most powerful wizard in history and could duel and defeat anyone he wished. He never thought about how he had been inconveniencing the people around him by storming off on his own. It was time he learned humility, he needed to realize how foolish he had been. Resolving to go look for the brat, he tried to stand up, only to fall back down in pain as soon as he tried. His left shoulder and left arm were searing red-hot pain, a result of Potter's Sectumsempra. If he had been in his older body, he would not even have noticed. That body had gone through too much, a little pain was nothing. But his fifteen-year-old self was very different.

Unable to even sit up again, he lay down where he was on the sand of the playground. The plan had worked, but badly. He was stranded outside with wounds that would kill him from blood loss if left open for too long, and he was too weak to even sit up to bind them with the oversized blouse he was wearing under his father's old coat. The small, golden ball sat in his hand, now a dull bronze. Eventually the sky darkened and he fell unconscious from pain.


	2. A New Plan

**I'm uploading the first two chapters at once because the first one was a little short, it was meant as a kind of Prologue. This story will probably be updated quite fast because I'm full of ideas and it's the middle of summer. ****  
**

**Chapter 2:**

The first thing he saw when he woke up was Potter's green eyes, staring back at him suspiciously. He had returned. Behind him was a light blue sky; it was morning. He attempted to sit up, and found that he was in a partial body bind, his hands bound together behind his back. After a few tries, he managed to pull himself up without the help of his arms. Potter did nothing but watch him. He noticed that he clothes had mostly dried overnight and were only slightly damp, but then immediately turned to see his shoulder. The cuts had been healed.

"Essence of Dittany", Potter replied, seeing his questioning glace towards him, "I'm only going to keep you alive long for long enough to find out where I am".

Severus raised an eyebrow, "where did you get Essence of Dittany?"

"Hermione's purse", he replied quickly, "now where are we?"

"Spinner's End, a muggle neighborhood", he answered quietly. As much as he hated the boy, he needed his cooperation for the plan to work.

"Why do you look so much younger? I only recognized you because of the memories I saw during our Occlumency lessons", he questioned relentlessly.

"Because we've gone back in time", he didn't turn to look at Potter.

There was a long silence, during which the boy drank in the information. Severus waited a while before he started.

"If you give me a moment I'll explain why I brought you here." At Potter's silence, he went on, "I brought you here because this is your last chance to destroy the Dark Lord. This", he held up the ball in his hand, "is a powerful time turner. I've been spelling it for years for quite a different purpose. But your idiocy forced me to use it for this instead".

"Don't think you can fool me _Snape. _It's clear enough that you work for Voldemort, tell me the truth", Harry demanded.

Severus took a deep breath, "I am Albus's spy. It is the truth. He wanted me to tell you some things. If you didn't come to the Shack, you would have found that I left memories in his office and verified it yourself. To make this plan work I will need your cooperation-".

"I _said _I wanted the truth", Harry's eyes were accusing him, "you killed Dumbledore. Don't think you can still keep up that farce, I'm not a fool."

"Albus wanted me to kill him, he was already going to die. If you doubt it…I can still show you the memories. However, you have to allow me to use Legilimency on you", he spoke patiently. He wasn't sure how much longer he could hold that patience. Luckily, Harry did not speak for a while, choosing simply to walk back and forth, evidently thinking it over. Severus struggled to his feet and removed the body bind from himself silently, throwing Potter a glare. He pushed the neck of his shirt to expose his shoulder. It was completely healed, with nothing but a few thin scars left. He then took a deep breath and slowly rolled up his sleeve, turning around as he did so. Potter did not need to see this moment.

He examined the bare skin of his forearm in awe, admiring the pale, but unmarked skin. This was it. He was free. He spent a moment reveling in the knowledge before sliding his coat sleeve back down and turning to watch Potter pace back and forth. Almost unconsciously, he drew the coat higher around his shoulders, just as he had done almost every day of his summer when he was younger. Since he had been a part of this time era, he had been replaced with the Severus of this time, which meant he was wearing his old clothing. That was probably best; his robes would have looked like blankets draped over his current frame. The coat probably looked ridiculous in the late summer heat, but it was all he had to cover the shirt he was wearing underneath, which was decidedly too feminine. It was also all he had to cover the many bruises that he knew were sometimes on his arms. Maybe now that he had some of the potion making skills of his older self, he could make some money and buy himself his own clothes…

"Do it", Potter suddenly demanded. He turned to give Severus an angry look, "just do it", he stood still in front of him, around the same height as Severus's fifteen year old body. Severus took his wand out of his pocket, and slowing pointed it at Harry.

"Legilimens".

Potter's automatic defenses tried to spring up but they were pathetically weak. The boy hadn't learned anything at all from his Occlumency classes. He broke through in seconds and entered his mind. Instead of the memory probing that Legilimency was meant for, he brought up his own reserve of memories and allowed them to gracefully spill through into Potter's mind.

T_he first day he had agreed to give anything for Dumbledore's help in killing Voldemort_

_Participating in one of the Dark Lord's meetings…_

… _and then relaying everything he had seen to Dumbledore. _

_Dumbledore asking him to murder him, showing him the burnt hand…_

_And finally they came to the memory in which Dumbledore informed him that Harry Potter would have to die…_

Severus drew out of Harry's mind as soon as the memory subsided. The memories he had left in Dumbledore's office contained much more, involving his own relationship with Lily, in order to prove his goals. But here, he was careful not to reveal any of that. He watched for a while as the boy tried desperately to control himself, but the attempt failed just as quickly and his eyes blurred. He watched the boy turn and run away, probably wanting time alone. Severus was in no mood to cater to Potter's feelings, so he let him go.

"Come back to this park in an hour!" He yelled at the retreating figure. Hopefully this incident would give the boy some humility…in the meanwhile, he had other things to do. He set off walking in the opposite direction of Spinner's End. Potter's presence needed to be explained, he did not belong to this time period so he had come straight from the future with no alterations, still in his seventeen year old body. To make everything work, he needed an identity in this world. Merlin knew he couldn't pose Potter off as his brother, they looked nothing alike and the fact that he would have to eventually bring him to his house at Spinner's End was something he was trying to put off for as long as possible. He had known that he would have to face humiliation, but it didn't need to come until it had to.

Cousin. Cousins didn't need to look similar. Cousin would work just fine. He could pose the boy off as a relative of his mother's, maybe a transfer student from Durmstrang…no, it wouldn't work. Severus knew that in the end he would have to tell Dumbledore. Everything came back to the meddling old man. But there was no other way he could be admitted into Hogwarts… After walking for a good quarter hour, he arrived at her house. He stood deathly still behind the high bushes her neighbor owned, so that she could not see him. Merlin…it was really her.

Lily Potter was in her front yard, holding up a heavy watering can and leaning over to pour water into the flowers in her front yard. She was wearing a simple, flowery sundress and had her wavy red hair pulled back into a pigtail. It was almost too beautiful to watch…she was here. She was alive. He slowly stepped into her line of sight, as if afraid she wouldn't be able to see him.

"Sev!" She'd turned around, fixing her eyes on him. The wave of nostalgia that ran through him was too pleasant to be real.

"Sev what are you doing here now? Are you ready to pick up supplies tomorrow? We might be a little late, mum's car needs some repair", she walked over. Upon seeing him, her smile faded, "what's the matter?"

Severus suddenly became aware that he was starting at her as if she'd lit the sun, "nothing", he turned away and examined the hedges beside him, and "I just wanted to tell you that my cousin has come to live with me I wanted to know if I could bring him along for lunch today", he completed the entire sentence in one breath and watched for her reaction.

"Oh that's great!" Her smile appeared again, "I'm so glad you won't be alone in that house anymore. Of course he can come, mum will love it", upon seeing that the strange expression still hadn't left his face, she cocked her head to one side, "is there something else?"

Unable to pretend to look normal after seeing her alive, Severus used a cover, "well, he's living with me because his family died in an accident. He's extremely upset and it'd be nice if you were a little careful around him."

Her expression immediately sobered, "I'm so sorry. I'll be careful, I promise."

He stood in awkward silence for a while before meeting her eyes again, "I…have to go back to see him now. I'll see you tomorrow Lily."

"See you tomorrow Sev. Be safe", she waved. Severus gave her a wave back and attempted a small smile. She went back to her watering and he turned around and walked back to the park, feeling as if an angel had pardoned him and sent him to heaven.

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Harry's head was spinning.

He was crouched in a muggle alley, his knees to his chest and his face buried in his hands. He simply did not know what to think. _Dumbledore wanted me to die…he knew I was going to die. What better plan than to send the boy who's destined to die anyway into battle? I've just been used…_

But inside, he knew the truth. He knew that what Dumbledore had done was right, that it was for the greater good. What was the life on one boy when compared to the lives of millions? It was only logical…it hadn't been Dumbledore's fault that he had become the Boy Who Lived. He had no right to blame Dumbledore for anything, especially considering what the man had given up himself for the purpose of bringing Voldemort down. It was only fair…

And then there was Snape. Merlin he hated the man, he hated him with everything he had. Even know that he knew whose man he really was. Why couldn't everything be simple? He had contented in hating Snape, he had been content when the man had killed Dumbledore. Snape as an enemy, he could handle. The man had hated him since the day he'd laid eyes on him, so Snape was easy to hate. But now he was trapped here, caught up in plans he had no idea of. Why couldn't the great git have just let him fight? He could have finished Voldemort off right there. He had been so close, his last horcrux Nagini had been right within his reach. But now he was here, and none of that would even happen for another twenty years.

He buried his face further into his knees. What hurt most had still not changed, even despite these events. In his hand, he clutched the beaded purse even harder. Hermione would always know what to do; she had always been his voice of reason. Now that she was gone…he didn't know what to do. Sighing, he dislodged his hands from their position and looked down at the starry watch that had once belonged to Fabian Prewett, a gift from Molly Weasley. An hour had almost passed since he ran away from the park, and the muggles nearby were starting to stare at him. He stood up, straightening his clothes and wiping away the last of his tears. Snape had said he was here to fight Voldemort after all, and that was what he was going to do.

Harry walked back to the park slowly, waiting at the edge of the sand when he reached it and watching the slightly younger boy who was sitting on a swing, waiting. Snape appearance had been another thing that had surprised him, and it hadn't just been his age. The boy who he had seen in older Snape's memories had been pale and scrawny, but within an acceptable range. This Snape was different, and far too thin. He was wearing clothes that were Merlin knew how many sizes too big for him, and, as noticed while applying the Essence of Dittany to his shoulder, a shirt that was definitely not made in the men's section. He'd had the most terrible sense of fashion Harry had ever seen. Maybe it was a phase he'd gone through when he was young, Harry didn't know the first thing when it came to fashion so maybe it was just a trend.

Snape turned to look at him and then pushed himself off the swing, walking towards him.

"The Hogwarts year begins next week, and you are going to be a student. I plan to pass you off as my cousin", Snape said the word with as much distaste as a fifteen-year-old boy could manage, "and we're going to Hogsmeade to pick up school essentials tomorrow. For the rest of the day, I'll have to explain to you why I did this and how I plan to bring down the Dark Lord before he rises into his prime."

Harry gritted his teeth, "fine. And I have all the supplies I need, Hermione packed everything in her purse", he waved the small bag, "how am I going to pass for a Hogwarts student anyway? I look seventeen in case you haven't noticed".

"I know a potion that will decrease your age, the consequence being that two times the amount decreased will be taken off your natural lifespan. Six years should be nothing for you, seeing as you've already agreed to sacrifice anything possible to defeat the Dark Lord", Snape explained, "follow me".

"Where are we going?" Harry asked as he followed.

"My house", Snape replied, "seeing as there's nowhere else you can stay". He planned to move his own meager possessions into his mother's room and give his own for the boy's use. For once he was happy that his parents had slept in different rooms. Eileen Snape had given the best furniture to her son and kept only the older things for herself, but he was sure he could manage with her room.

Harry was groaning on the inside. He knew Snape had been a half-blood with a mother from a wealthy family, he'd hoped he would have at least been allowed to stay at the Three Broomsticks for the time being. Staying in the same house as Snape…Merlin help him.

As he stepped out of his thoughts, he began to notice where they were headed. It was a small neighborhood, filled with tiny, dark houses with dirty windows and broken shingles. For a moment he suspected they had a long walk before exiting this small neighborhood and heading to Snape's house. But soon he noticed that they were slowing down. In fact, they had just stopped. In front of a house with the same dirty windows and broken shingles as all the others. He looked to Snape and saw that he had, indeed stopped. This was his house.

Harry made for the front door.

"Stop", Snape's hand on his shoulder pulled him back roughly, "I'll go in first and…explain the situation to my father. Wait out here." He feared his voice was filled with something akin to dread but years as a spy taught him how to hide his emotions properly, Harry didn't noticed anything.

"Alright", Harry placed his hands in his pockets and stayed on the pavement, looking around nervously.

Severus walked up to the front door, wishing that he could run away at any moment. It wasn't the pain he was afraid of, the pain was always there, and Merlin knew Tobias Snape could do no worse to him physically than the Dark Lord. But he always had the same feeling of dread in his stomach every time he entered his own house. Standing on the front step, he pushed the door open. It wasn't locked, it was never locked. The familiar smell of dust hit his nose as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

Walking into the living room, he looked around cautiously for his father's presence. The dining room was empty; no one had used it since the day his mother died. The kitchen was empty, his father sometimes went to rummage around for non-existent food, but he wasn't there now. He walked further and made it to the living room to see his father sleeping on the sofa like he usually was at midday. He slept so that he could be awake in the evening and stay out all night with some friends. Severus remembered distinctly that these friends had come to the house once; he'd stayed inside the closet all day shaking with fear until they left. But that had been when he was young. Now he was no longer afraid of his father, he'd grown far too comfortable with pain.

Severus nudged his father shoulder with his hand, being careful to be gentle. He groaned and turned over. After a few more pats, he threw the thin blanket away and turned around to glare at whoever had woken him. Unlike his son's, his own clothes were decent. Merlin knew where he stole the money for them.

"What is it, miserable brat?" Tobias Snape glared at his son, still half asleep. His eyes then widened slightly as if remembering something, "Oi! You stole money from me yesterday!"

"I need money for school supplies father. I'm taking some advanced classes and I need to buy textbooks", he explained calmly, remembering that he stole money every year before the Hogsmeade trip. The important thing was to never show weakness, sometimes it would work and his father would grumble and leave him alone. If he showed weakness, he would only be more of a target.

"You owe me fifty pounds, and if I don't see the money by tomorrow your sorry face will be messed up more than it already is", he glared back. Severus sighed silently, relived that it had worked. By tomorrow his father would have already forgotten. Now was the time to bring up the slightly more controversial issue…

"Father, I need a favor. A friend of mine has recently lost his family, and I'd like for him to stay with us." It was always better to be straightforward. His father had never been particularly smart, and whisky never helped in that area.

Immediately he knew it was the wrong thing to do.

"You want to bring more of your filth into my house?" He thundered, "Are you insane, boy?"

Tobias Snape leaned forward and grabbed his son's shirt collar. Severus knew what was coming, and he tried as hard as he could to pull himself out of the larger man's grasp. But it was pointless; his fifteen-year-old body was underfed and weak. The large fist hit the delicate skin under his eye and the punch was delivered.

"I don't want any more of your kind using my house!" Severus squinted in pain as his father threw him to the floor. He tried to get up but a swift kick to his chest told him that his father had gotten up off the sofa. Another kick was delivered to his upper thigh, where he was sure it would leave a mark. Nothing like this had happened for a while, Severus realized with a jolt of panic that it was caused by the mere mention of 'his kind'. If he ever found Harry…

He waited out the next few kicks while curled up with his knees to his chest. Waiting it out was the best idea. Eventually, his father got tired and slumped back on the sofa, the blanket partially covering him. When he was certain his father was asleep, he slowly made his way to the kitchen.

Once he was in the kitchen, he hobbled over to a small drawer and opened it. When he mother had been alive, it had been filled with forks and spoons and knives but it was empty now, and there was a hole in one corner. Reaching into the hole, he pulled out a small vial of blue liquid. It contained Dreamless Sleep, a batch that he had stolen from Slughorn a while ago. He limped back to the living room and slowly approached his father. Once he was close enough, he uncorked the vial with his nails and allowed two drops to drip into his father's open mouth.

After the liquid had slid down his throat, Severus let out a sigh of relief. He was sure not to wake up for the next nine hours; the batch had been especially potent. He supposed this would be what he would have to do for the next two days in order to keep Potter inside. He would also have to start using that conveniently placed branch he had found earlier…

Severus walked back outside to find Harry still waiting on the pavement. He had his arms crossed in a gesture of suspicion, clearly unhappy with his location. Spinner's End was an ominous place even in the daytime; only those struck by too much poverty to decide otherwise chose to live here.

"You took a while. Fifteen minutes I think" Harry glared at him, not pleased at having been left outside. His glare turned to confusion when he saw the bruising underneath Snape's eye and the limp that he walked in, "and what in Merlin's name happened to you?"

"I fell down the stairs", Severus lied easily, the stairs excuse was always the best, it could explain everything that happened to him, "follow me."

Harry knew something was suspicious but decided to ignore it for the time being. He made for the front door again but stopped short when Snape turned to the side of the house instead, walking down the short alley between houses that lead to the yard. He ran to catch up, "where are you going?"

Snape didn't say anything until they were in the yard. It was plain, and relatively empty except for a large tree. Harry stared as he placed his foot at the first junction of the tree and pulled himself up. He climbed up another branch and then reached over to push open one of the large windows in the house. It made a creaking sound as it opened.

"Are you incapable of climbing a tree Potter?" He turned back and questioned. Harry was still staring; unable to believe that stoic Snape had actually liked climbing trees as a boy. He nodded and followed the path up to the window, and let himself into the room.

"Nice tree you have, but wouldn't it be easier to just take the front door?" Harry commented as he brushed some leaves off his clothes. The room was surprising, not at all like something Snape would live in. It was only about three times as large as the closet he'd slept in for most of his life, and the furniture was broken in places. The bedspread was a dull brown, and looked like it had once been more of a golden brown. The wallpaper crumbled in almost every corner. He looked around to find Snape's back to him, and was offered no reply. Instead, the former potions master waved around, "you will stay in this room before we leave for Hogwarts. Now, there are some rules you have to follow", his eyes narrowed.

"What rules?" Great, the bat had house rules now. He'd probably use him as a house-elf like his relatives had done.

Snape paced around the room as he recited them, "rule number one, you must never _ever _go downstairs. My father will _not _appreciate being disturbed. Rule number two, we enter and leave through the window, or we might wake my father, who sleeps quite frequently due to…a health condition. Rule number three; loud noises will _not _be tolerated. Am I clear?"

The rules weren't all that bad. Harry thought he looked just as serious even as a teenager. However, their entry made more sense now. Snape had a father with a delicate health condition, interesting…

"Got it."

Something else occurred to him right then, "wait, where will we eat if we're not allowed to go downstairs? Where's your mother?"

Snape gave him a glare, "we eat out, usually. My father cannot cook and my mother died five years ago."

At this, Harry became quieter and decided to pursue a different topic, "when are you going to tell me the plan?"

"I'll explain later. Now I need to brew the potion that will make you look younger", as he said this he walked over to the bed and knelt down, wincing in pain from the 'staircase fall'. He reached under the bed and pulled out a worn old suitcase, his school trunk. Unlocking the clasps, he pulled out a small wooden box, holding it with care, and a cauldron. He brought the box to the bed and set it down. There was no desk in the room so he was forced to work on top of the small chest of drawers, which was short enough to act as a flat surface while he was standing.

The box was a potions kit, and contained a plethora of ingredients. A thought struck Harry as he watched the former Potions Master throw ingredients into the small cauldron.

"This potion, is it Dark?"

Snape did not stop working, "why do you ask?"

"Because most things that tamper with lives tend to be dark. Apart from the Philosopher's Stone, and it's gone now", he replied suspiciously.

After a while, Snape replied. "Yes, it is considered Dark. But many people do not use it because it decreases their lifespan with each use. There is not need to be suspicious of it." After the required extra ten minutes to allow the potion to set had passed, he slowly ladled all of the liquid in the cauldron into a flask from the potions kit. It now held a dark green, relatively clear liquid. "Drink it", he held it out.

Harry took the potion and drowned it in one gulp. Its taste was similar to Polyjuice, but slightly sourer. He made a face as he set it back down. Soon, he felt a tingling sensation throughout his body. He closed his eyes while he transformed, and then looked down at himself after a minute. His clothes felt slightly looser. There was no mirror in the room to check his transformation, so he glanced at Snape.

Snape nodded in approval, "good. Now before we continue, tell me what you have inside that purse. It's clearly imbued with an extending charm."

"Hermione thought of it, she took everything that we would need when we left the burrow to…find and kill Voldemort's followers. There are loads of books, enough for a small library I think. There's also my clothes, Ron's clothes, parchment and some quills, a few potions, some dried food, a couple of galleons, and a small tent", he explained. Snape's eyebrows were high when he finished, the Granger girl really had thought of everything. This was perfect for his plan.

"Good. That's impressive for one small bag. The charm must be powerful", he commented.

"Hermione was always good at things like this. If it was up to me and Ron, we'd have left with nothing but our wands and the clothes on our back", Harry smiled sadly at the ground.

"I do not doubt it. We are going to have lunch at the house of a friend of mine today", he faltered slightly upon the words 'friend of mine'. He was never used to saying things like this, and it almost felt alien on his tongue. He continued, ignoring the moment, "I've told her that you are my cousin, and that you are staying here because your family died in an accident. Feel free to fabricate any details you wish. Be ready in fifteen minutes."

With that, Snape placed the potions kit back into his trunk and carried it out of the room.


	3. Lily Evans

**A/N: In the timeline of this story, Snape joined the Dark Lord in his fifth year. During his third month, he called Lily a mudblood and then desperately tried to regain her friendship. When she made it clear that she'd given up on him, he became a follower of Voldemort during his sixth month, initiated by Lucius Malfoy. He received the Mark a week after graduating his final year. **

**Chapter Three:**

Harry gave up on trying to smooth his hair down when he heard a knock on the door.

"Are you finished, Potter?"

"Yeah", Harry responded, smoothing down the front of his shirt. It was a little wrinkled from being at the bottom of the bag, but there was no helping it now. At first he'd wondered if he should be wearing robes, this 'friend' could be one of the future Slytherin death eaters and it wouldn't be right to show up in muggle clothing. But seeing as they were clearly walking to this place and there were Muggles living for miles around the area, he chose a simple green shirt over a pair of trousers that had bought him the previous summer.

He turned to see Snape entering, dressed a little differently. He was now wearing an oversized blue shirt and dark jeans, the bottoms tucked into the pair of boots he'd been wearing before. For some reason his entire closet seemed to follow this overly loose fashion. Harry was right not to wear robes; this 'friend' of Snape's seemed to come from a muggle background.

"We'll start then", Snape walked over and pushed open the window, climbing over the side and gripping the tree branches on his way down. Harry followed a moment later. The two boys then started walking out of Spinners End, a fact for which Harry was grateful. Some of the other residents had been giving him curious looks. After walking for twenty minutes, he grew bored of the silence.

"Who's house are we going to?" He asked. He shifted slightly so the grumble of his stomach wouldn't be heard, he was hungry and tired and the long walk was not helping.

"Lily Evans."

Harry stopped in his tracks. After realizing the footsteps behind him had stopped, Snape turned around and looked at him questioningly, "you don't want to meet your mother?"

"No…I mean yes…I mean…could we go back, I'm not ready to make a good first impression yet", damn him. If he had known he would have made more of an effort to comb his hair down. Meeting his mother for the first time in years…even more suspicious was the fact that Snape had called her his friend, but that was something to ponder on later. Just great, his mother now thought he was someone related to the greasy git, what a bad impression…

"That won't be necessary. Keep walking or it'll be past lunchtime."

Soon they were standing on the front porch of the Evan's house, Snape's expression unchanging, and Harry fidgeting nervously. He knew that the girl he was going to meet would not become his mother for a number of years, but it still felt like a small reunion, even with Snape there.

The door opened and a girl with light brown hair tied neatly into a ponytail scowled down at them. She flicked her ponytail as she turned around and yelled into the house.

"Lily, _they're _here", she then gave them one last derogatory look and stormed up the stairs inside.

"Coming Tuney", another girl rushed to the front door and gave them both a brilliant smile. Harry smiled back sheepishly, all worries about impressions gone. She waved them both in and closed the door.

They stood in silence for a few seconds before Snape spoke, "Lily, this is Harry Potter, a distant cousin of mine. Potter, this is Lily Evans".

Harry extended his hand and she took it with both of hers, "I heard what happened to your parents, I'm so sorry. I know you're transferring to Hogwarts and I'm a Prefect there, so you can ask me anything you like and come to me for help. You're also invited over for lunch anytime, Sev always comes to join me because my parents work during the day and it's boring eating by myself", she smiled at Severus, who returned a strange sort of half-grin.

"I'll be sure to, thanks", Harry answered. He and Snape followed her into the kitchen.

Lunch went by well, if not slightly awkwardly. Lily didn't press for any information, but Harry couldn't resist the curious gleam in his mother's eyes. He immediately told her the 'story' of his parents, and how they had died in a house fire caused by one of the neighbors. Snape quietly picked at his food and spent of his time sneaking glances at Lily, adding to the conversation whenever he pleased. He was glad Potter was not too curious about his friendship with Lily. The truth was that Lily had been the reason he had developed the time sphere. It was the one selfish thing he'd done for himself, and he'd been willing to go through every pain his younger self had endured if only to see Lily again, to make sure he didn't make the same mistake twice. This was the year he'd joined the Dark Lord, and it was also the year that he'd lost her friendship.

"…but I'm not sure which House you'll be sorted into", he head Lily say. Harry pretended to think about it, and then replied happily.

"Everyone in my family has been in Gryffindor", he told her, "so that's probably where I'm headed."

Lily put her hands together in glee, "well that's perfect! I'm in Gryffindor as well, I can introduce you to some of my friends. You look so similar to one of them, I'm sure you'll get along well. Your name is Harry Potter isn't it? Have you ever met James Potter?"

Snape scowled slightly and glared at Lily, but she ignored him. In their early friendship, she'd never mentioned James and his gang in front of him, but this was the year that they had begun to grow apart, mostly due to his own stupidity and continued friendship with Avery and Mulciber. Now most of the hesitation she felt at bringing up his assailants was gone, she considered them mere pranksters, while the friends Severus kept around were pure evil.

"No I haven't, but I can't wait. Thanks for doing this…Lily. I wasn't looking forward to spending my days not knowing anyone", Harry hesitated a moment before calling his mother by her name.

"Oh you already know Sev, as long as you don't hang out with his other friends you'll be fine", she replied, sneaking a glance at Severus, who'd been quiet for a while.

He forced himself to carry a neutral expression. In the past, this was the point where he'd get angry and storm out of her house after an argument. It wasn't going to happen again, he knew why she was doing it this time. She was trying her best to get him away from them, and as he'd persisted in seeing them through their fifth year, she'd eventually given up on him. _I won't let her give up on me this time. _

"You don't need to worry about Potter making friends with them Lily, he's a Gryffindor through and through", he replied nonchalantly. Potter's eyes widened slightly at that statement. The dunderhead, he thought he was being complemented.

"Well that's great", Lily turned to look at Harry, "Harry are you coming with us to get supplies tomorrow?"

"Yes he is", Severus replied for him, "Anyway, it's a little late now. We should be going."

She smiled and nodded, "can I speak to you for a second Sev?"

"Of course", he followed her as she gestured for Harry to wait near the door. They went into the living room where she had her hands clasped and a serious expression on her face.

"Sev, about school supplies…are you able to manage this year?" She asked sheepishly.

"My father gave me enough money to cover everything", he lied. He never liked taking money from Lily, it didn't feel right.

"That's good. Also…Sev I know that Avery and Mulciber are in your house and it's hard to avoid them but you'll try won't you? I don't like seeing you with them, you've changed so much", she watched his expression as she said this, "I know you always counter by speaking against James and Sirius, but they're just pranksters. Avery and Mulciber fiddle with the dark arts and you know it."

"I'll try Lily, I will. But the issue is larger than that, you have to understand that as well", he said carefully. His plan was quite the opposite of what Lily wanted him to do, but it had to be done.

"What issue? Don't tell me you've already made the decision to join?" Her face paled and all the childish remarks faded as she took in the seriousness of the situation.

"No, I haven't. But as a Slytherin there are some things I'm expected to do and it can't be helped", he said as he saw her worried expression, "but…I'll always be here for you Lily. I won't betray you, I give you my word on that", he turned away.

Lily gaped at seeing him say something so sentimental, "Sev are you alright? Two days ago you were telling me how much power they offer and now…"

"I'm fine Lily. Something just happened and I changed my mind", he said, somewhat truthfully. He didn't actually know how to act around Lily anymore. In their fifth year he had spent most of his time with her telling her about the benefits of the power he considered gaining, and he had watched her slowly drift away until that final straw had broken their friendship. But now he had another chance, only with the mind of a thirty-year-old man. After spending so much time dedicated to being a spy, it was…difficult to act like a younger man.

"Alright, but be careful", her smile was one of relief, "take care of your cousin Harry, he seems a little naïve, to different from you. I'll do my best to integrate him into Gryffindor but when you're at home…he may need you."

He knew what she meant, "of course. Goodbye Lily, I'll see you tomorrow."

He walked to the door where Harry was waiting, the confused expression still on his face. Lily waved them goodbye as they exited and made their way down the street.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

As they climbed up into the house from the backyard, Severus steered himself for the explanation that was about to follow. He couldn't keep the boy waiting any longer; it had to be done now. He walked inside and sat down on the bed, since there were no chairs in the room. Potter sat down on the opposite side of it and watched him expectedly. He went over the entire lie in his head before beginning to tell it.

"Last year, Dumbledore told me that you would have to die", he began, "and from then, a few things happened that gave me an inkling of how desperate the Order's situation was. The Dark Lord was growing stronger; he had the power of the ministry long before you all realized. When I informed Dumbledore, even he was convinced that it was a bluff. It was then that I started making a time sphere.

"The time sphere was an art I found in one of the Dark Lord's books. Its consequences were many: it would lower your life span; it would meddle with your memories, many people never bothered to use it for those reasons. I didn't particularly want to user it either with those effects, but I took it as a base and started changing it to work better", he pulled out the small, dull sphere from his pocket, "This charm sends you back in time, and it has to be made with the number of years the user wants to travel, that cannot be changed. When a person uses it to travel back in time, he or she is put in the position of the same person in the time traveled to. For instance, I was switched with the Severus Snape of this time. If the person does not belong to the time, he is brought just as he is, as in your situation. I charmed this time sphere to travel back twenty years, to the year I first joined the dark lord.

"You were never supposed to be part of this plan. I was supposed to go myself and prevent the Dark Lord from hearing the prophesy, in order for Lily, James, and the Longbottoms to be alive and able to fight. During the moment I saw you at the Shack, I knew that all was lost and that the plan needed to be activated. I also knew that I needed to take you with me, because Dumbledore has told you things about the Dark Lord that he has not told me. A spy must never be allowed to have dangerous information", he sighed and started on the plan, "my plan is to join the dark lord again."

Harry narrowed his eyes, but Severus continued, "this time, it will be as a spy from the beginning. I will consult Dumbledore on it when the time comes. I will attend all his meetings and try my best to please him. Your part", he looked pointedly at Harry, "is to do three things. The first is to start gathering the order together, because many future Aurors are currently in school. I know about your Dumbledore's Army, something like that will do just fine. The second is to keep Lily Potter safe. What I will do will undoubtedly draw attention to her. She is an extremely skilled witch and her association with me will not go unnoticed-"

"Then stop associating with her. It's that simple", Harry told him. Evidently he was not pleased about the relationship his mother had with his hated professor, "won't that keep her safe?"

"That's what I tried last time", he gritted his teeth and lied, making up an excuse, "and she died. This time I will keep a closer eye on both her and Alice Longbottom."

"And what's the third thing I'm supposed to do?"

"Keep an eye on Peter Pettigrew", he replied, "I'm sure you know why. Do not attack him in any way, it will only make Potter and Black suspicious of you. Just watch him and report to me when he does something that seems especially suspicious. I have no idea when he joined the Dark Lord, but I will stop it before it happens. Is everything I said clear?"

Harry nodded, "but when will we be able to go back?"

A moment passed before Severus answered hi.

"Time travel to the future is impossible. It's also likely that we'll change so much that you won't exist in the future", he finally replied, "is everything else understood?"

The boy spent a while in thought, and then nodded.

"Good. I suggest you retire to bed, you will have to wake up early tomorrow so we can accompany Lily to Hogsmeade", with that, he left the room.

Luckily, Harry was too tired to ask whether they were going to have dinner.

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One look around his mother's room told him that he was going to have a hard time.

The bed creaked dangerously when he sat down on it. It hadn't been used for years and was not in good shape, it wouldn't be wise to sleep there. The top drawer of the dresser fell and hit his foot when he attempted to pull it out. It was too heavy to lift back up and replace. He'd left his trunk, containing everything he owned, in the middle of the room. He suspected that it would fit under the bed like it had done in his own room.

He opened it and slowly removed his shirt, pausing to note the bruises on his thigh. The painful thinness was also starting to show through. No matter, once school started he would be back in shape. Luckily Potter hadn't asked any questions about dinner, or wondered why he was sending him to bed at seven in the evening. There were a few things he needed to do before tomorrow started.

Severus walked into the stair landing, still in only his pants. He leant over the railing and peered into the living room. His father had left already. That was good, hopefully he would be back only after they left in the morning. He then went over to a small door opposite to his mother's room, the only bathroom on the upper floor. Opening it, he saw what was probably the cleanest room in the house, because only he had ever used it since his mother's death. Still, the wallpaper was crumbling in one corner, and he hastily smoothed it back down. There were a few other problems, and he spent the next half hour silently making it as presentable as it could be. He would suffer as little humiliation about his home life from Potter as possible, even if it meant getting down on his hands and knees and cleaning everything the muggle way.

When he was satisfied, he returned to his room and removed his pants, folding them and placing them in the trunk with the rest of his clothes. He carefully made his way to the bed and tried to lie down without making any noise, but the moment he put his weight on it, the wood began to creak. Sighing, he slowly stripped the bed of its thin mattress and blankets and spread them on the floor. Lying down on them, he tried as hard as he could to get to sleep.


	4. New Explanations

**A/N: Some action is brewing...**

**Chapter 4:**

Harry woke up to the sound of knocking on his door.

His night had been absolutely horrible. The bed was one of the worst he'd slept in since the wooden plank in his cupboard, at least his aunt and uncle had moved him into a more comfortable bed when his limbs could no longer stand it. This bed had been bloody uncomfortable, and the thin blankets weren't helping. It was probably an old storage room or abandoned guest room. He'd seen Snape leave his trunk here after all.

_Trust that git to make sure my stay is as bad as possible…_

Even worse was the fact that it was so _small. _It was a twin bed, but only three quarters the size of a normal one. His feet extended off the bed so far he'd had to sleep in a fetal position throughout the night. His hip probably had blisters. He'd finally found a near acceptable position at around two in the morning, and the knock on his door had woken him up at seven in the morning.

"I'm coming…"

He limped out of bed, feeling very much like an old man. One hand supporting his sore hip, he pushed the door open. Outside stood Snape, dressed and ready. He was wearing a loose coat over a black shirt, and the same jeans tucked into his boots. One day, someone needed to teach him how to dress properly in the muggle world, even Dedalus Diggle pathetic attempts at fitting in with muggles were better.

He glared into Snape's darker eyes, "why so early?"

"Because Lily's mother is driving us to the station, and she has to get to work early. Or would you rather force them to accommodate to your lazy habits, Potter?" he stated calmly. Upon hearing no answer, he continued. "The bathroom is right across the hall. Be ready in fifteen minutes. Take any more time and I will personally drag you out."

He nodded grudgingly and exited the room. Snape immediate stormed away into the room next door that he seemed to be staying in, closing the door behind him. Harry took a while to look around at the upper floor of the house from the landing. He still found it hard to wrap his head around the fact that Snape, of all people, lived in a muggle house. Of course, he'd known his father was a muggle, but his mother had been someone from a rather important family, as it had seemed. Harry had quite frankly been expecting grandeur, something like Sirius's family house. Something that could produce a death eater.

Beyond that, the neighborhood was despicable. He could understand why the house was in bad shape, Snape had told him quite clearly of his mother's death, and there wasn't much a young boy could be expected to do in regards to housework, especially with a sick father. That was explainable, but the neighborhood wasn't. He'd seen these places in television, and he'd experienced the same atmosphere in Knockturn Alley. This was the sort of place that housed thugs and criminals, not where little boys grew up.

Before he could think further, he remembered his time limit and hurried into the bathroom. He set the purse down on the sink and looked up to see a cracked bathroom mirror that, ignoring the crack, seemed actually spotless. A younger version of himself stared back at him, and he watched in awe. The small scars he had gathered from the war were gone, and the skin on his face seemed especially smooth from their absence. He rubbed his chin and noticed that the stubble he had grown had also disappeared. The potion had worked flawlessly, one day he would have to find out what its name was.

He opened the beaded purse and stuck his entire arm in, rummaging around for while before absentmindedly finding something that felt silky and pulling it out. To his horror, he drew out a lacy black bra, and immediately stuffed it back in, blushing even though no one was there to see. One day, he would organize the purse properly. He rummaged around again until he found his toothbrush. Snape had given him fifteen minutes. Not enough to waste.

Harry made sure he was presentable before exiting; he would be meeting his grandparents for the first time. He put on a pair of blue jeans and a jumper pulled over a buttoned up white shirt, turning around in the mirror and making sure there were no crinkles. He then wondered what to do with his hair; it was as messy as always. Thoughtfully, he put his hand into the pouch, hoping Hermione had taken a hairbrush for her own messy hair. Instead, he found a thin silver cylindrical can with the words _Extra Strong Hold _on the front. Familiar with hairsprays, he pressed the nozzle and held it over his head, watching the mist drift onto his head. He dropped the can back into the purse and patted his hair down, watching as it magically stayed in place. _Thanks 'Mione. Even when you're gone you're still helping…_

He pocketed the purse and walked out of the bathroom. As he entered the room he was given to stay in, he found Snape already there, waiting by the window. The older man/boy gave him a curious look before climbing out the window. Harry quickly followed.

The thirty-minute walk to Lily's house was done in complete silence. Snape hadn't looked at him again, and he was too busy thinking. Thinking was something he'd been doing a lot recently, whatever Snape may believe about it. Firstly, he'd been thinking about his friends. Even after silently crying himself to sleep, it was hard to realize that he had no chance of seeing them, even if he went back to the future, they were dead. At least this way they had a chance to live their lives when the time came for them to be born. He still felt the strange catch at the back of his throat when he thought of Hermione. Harry knew very well that he'd never have admitted his feelings for her. She was Ron's, and he wasn't about to steal his best mate's girl. But he had really loved her, and it was hard to just _forget. _

He had also been thinking about Snape's plan. For this to work, both he and Snape would have to get closer to Voldemort than he wanted to be. In truth, he still didn't trust the man and probably never would. But he would go along with the plan for now, although he planned on making changes later.

Before he had a chance to dwell on it further, he heard Snape clearing his throat and realized they were standing in front of Lily's house, where a man in overalls was standing over the car in the driveway with a metal tool in his hand. He watched Snape go up to ring the doorbell, and fidgeted nervously.

The door opened to reveal an older woman who looked like she was in her early thirties. Her hair was a mousy brown, but her eyes were the same shade of bright green as Lily's.

"Severus, I'm so glad you're here early. My car still needs some work so you can go in and have breakfast with Lily while we wait. Oh is this the cousin of yours that Lily mentioned?" She turned to look at Harry. Harry gave her his best smile and nodded, "I'm Harry Potter, pleased to meet you Mrs. Evans."

"Is it alright if he accompanies us to Hogsmeade? He's starting school this year as a transfer student and needs to pick up his textbooks", Snape interjected.

The woman smiled at them both, "Of course he can. Harry, you go have some breakfast too, Lily's waiting for you both in the kitchen."

He nodded and followed Snape into the house while Mrs. Evans went out to talk to the man fixing her car. The Evan's house was incredibly different from the neighborhood Snape lived in, even though it was only a thirty-minute walk. The walls were painted a tasteful shade of pale blue, the color set off by oak hard wood floors. The kitchen they entered was equally nice, with a wooden breakfast table covered with a blue tablecloth. Harry thought he noticed some of Petunia's touches, but not too many. If the older girl had her way, the house would be decorated in her favorite shade of mauve.

The red haired girl was waiting for them at the table, pushing around eggs on her plate as she flipped through a thick paperback book. She barely noticed as they came in, and when she did her eyes were glazed for a while from her book.

"Sev! Harry! You're here! I trust mum already told you about her car, I hope they can fix it. I rather liked that car. Come have some breakfast, Petunia's learning how to cook and she's much better at it than I'll ever be", she smiled at them gestured to the table. Harry and Snape both sat down on opposite sides of the circular table. To Lily's delight, Harry immediate starting filling his plate and then poured himself a glass of milk, starving from their lack of food since yesterday's lunch. Snape politely declined any food and sipped from a glass of water. Skinny bastard.

"So Harry, do you know what you'll need for the year?" She asked once he was done eating, "If you have any questions on what to buy I can help."

"We've…uh…written to the Headmaster and confirmed that I'll be in Gryffindor, so I know I'll need robes. I've got some of the textbooks already but not all of them, and I'll need new quills and parchment", he replied.

They sat at the table for a while longer before Mrs. Evans walked back in and triumphantly announced that the genius of a mechanic she'd hired had managed to get her car back into good shape. They all climbed into the car, Lily sitting in the front and Snape and Harry staring through opposite windows at the back.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

After a mostly silent ride, Mrs. Evans left them at the train station and drew away. Severus took lead, entering into Platform nine and three quarters with Lily and Harry following. He was just a little disappointed that the trip hadn't been made with just Lily and him, after their third year it had been the only one entire day that they spent together, since Lily was cautious to be associated with the future death eater. Hopefully, once Harry made some annoying Gryffindor friends he'd be able to properly spend time with her.

"We're going to Gringotts first, Potter", he informed as they boarded the train to Hogsmeade, "you have the wizarding money that your…mother gave you, but we need to exchange currency", he picked a train cabin and shifted over for Lily as she sat down beside him. Harry sat opposite to them and nodded. He took his purse out of his pocket and inserted a hand into it. Lily gasped a little as she saw his entire arm disappear into the small thing.

"An extending charm? Wow, it seems pretty powerful too", she exclaimed. Harry looked up from his searching to give her a sheepish smile.

"It was my…sister's", he added, noticing how feminine the pink purse looked. He went back to his searching and after a while they heard the familiar clink of coins.

"What are you doing Potter?" Severus growled.

"Oh I'm just counting how much is in here. Hermione never told me exactly what she put in here, but it's damn useful and I'm not going to complain about how hard it is to find anything", after a little more clinking, he lifted his head back up, looking reassured. Oh good there's enough for the rest of my years at Hogwarts", he looked at Lily again, "You know, if you like books there's an entire library in here. My sister was a real bookworm and she sorted them all by subject. You might find some of it interesting, and Merlin knows I won't need it."

Lily eyes shined, "really? Brilliant, as soon as we settle down I'll make you hand it over. You might regret it when you realize just how much of a book lover I am though."

"No, really, you can have whatever you want from here. I'm not much of a reader", Harry looked pleased. Severus scowled out the window. He'd never been able to give her something like that. He'd impressed her with his grades, but the only gifts he'd ever been able to give her were tentative homemade charmed objects on her birthday and Christmas. When he was younger he'd never been able to give her anything except the flowers he'd sneaked out of someone's backyard. And he'd always been embarrassed when she'd present him with something expensive in return. He supposed he'd have to make more of an effort, Lily had always said gifts didn't matter but he knew enough about girls to know that gifts were a way to show caring. Merlin knew how much 'caring' his younger self had shown her…he'd have to fix his many mistakes this time.

"Hey Sev, did you know Alice and Frank finally started dating?" She asked. He's always been a lost cause with gossip but it hadn't stopped the poor girl from trying.

"I was actually betting they'd end up together in their first year they way they stared at each other. I'm surprised you didn't notice", he told her wryly. It wasn't exactly a subtle thing, the Hufflepuffs had been making eyes at each other since they met, it hadn't been hard to notice when Alice had almost neutralized his headache potion assignment by dropping her newts eyes into it while she'd been leaning over trying to watch Frank. He watched as an expression of surprise came over her, "Of course I knew, but it's just that…well…you never seemed to pay attention to it."

"A blind Snugglepuff could have seen it Lily. More importantly, I found out that Professor Vector is seeing someone", Severus found it very hard to keep the smile off his face as Lily stared at him, open-mouthed. He had to keep his stern appearance up around Harry after all.

"When on earth did you discover this and why didn't you tell me?" She demanded, almost playfully.

"I saw her getting a butterbeer at Hogsmeade with a guest. At first it seemed friendly but on my way out I noticed that they were a little too close to just be friends. Keep it to yourself all right? She's a teacher and deserves some dignity. I can't imagine she'd like it if her students started teasing her about her private life", he couldn't stop the small half-smile from forming at Lily's shock, but it quickly went away when he noticed Harry had the some look.

"What is it Potter? You don't need to look so shocked, you haven't even meet the professors yet", he said pointedly, giving him a glare.

"No si-that not it. You just didn't seem like the type to…" he stuttered. Severus noticed smugly that he'd almost called him 'sir'. Those mannerisms would have to disappear soon. As much as he loathed Potter using a more personal greeting, it would look suspicious otherwise.

"He isn't really. Sev just what is this 'event' that caused you to 'change your mind'?" She questioned. Severus realized that he had told her something had happened to convince him to abandon his Slytherin friends. He thought about it for a while before replying.

"I don't think I can tell you. It does have to do with the…death of my aunt and uncle. Harry's parents", he hesitated a little before coming up with the lie, but thankfully it had only seemed like a moment of sorrow. Lily looked at Harry, then back at him with sad eyes.

"I think I get the gist of it. Oh Sev, Harry. I'm so sorry for your loss. It must have been horrible". She gave them sorrowful looks.

Harry smiled sheepishly, "S'all right. I wasn't too close to them and…Snape only saw them over the holidays."

Thank Merlin. The boy seemed to understand hints after all. Lily probably thought that death eaters killed his parents, and he'd been convinced out of the path by seeing the reality of their deaths. It was a good excuse for now.

After fifteen more minutes on the train, most of it filled with small talk between Potter and Lily, they reached their destination. Severus lead them out of the train and onto the busy streets of Hogsmeade, bustling with students getting their things.

The walked to Gringotts as planned, and exchanged their muggle currency for galleons, sickles, and knuts. He watched Lily's exchange first, her parents had given her a good amount of money, much more than enough. She pocketed fifty galleons and walked over to wait with Harry. Severus stood blocking the view of his transaction, he didn't want them too see how much he was receiving from the exchange. His three hundred pounds came up to ten galleons and twenty sickles, which he would have to spend carefully over the year, saving at least three galleons for emergencies. He couldn't afford new robes this year either…it wasn't too much of a problem. He'd always kept his robes as neat and clean as possible, so he could manage.

They visited Flourish and Blotts first, to pick up new quills and parchment. When Lily asked Harry if he had enough money to buy his school supplies, Severus almost intervened. He knew she was asking because she thought Harry might be as poor as he was, but luckily Potter seemed to think it was because his family was dead, and he informed her quite nonchalantly that she didn't need to worry about him because there were over two hundred galleons in his purse. After that, she'd given Severus a curious look, but didn't ask any further.

"Sev look, it's the perfect quill for you", Lily giggled and help up a light pink quill. He looked closer and discovered it was a candy quill, perfectly usable but tasty as well.

"You always chew on the end of your quill, you might as well treat your taste buds while you do it", she teased.

"It might actually stop me from doing that, since I hate candy", he took the quill and examined it in mock consideration. Lily smiled and took it back, "on the other hand, I rather like that quirk of yours."

He gave her a genuine smile for that. It had been much too long since anyone had insinuated that they liked something he did.

After Harry finished replenishing his quill and parchment stock, they walked out of the store. Severus immediately noticed a book store on the other end and made his way toward it before a firm hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned around and found that Lily was holding him back, while looking at Potter.

"So Harry, if you want anything else at all apart from books do mention it. Once Severus walks in there we won't get out until sunset", she seemed half-serious.

"Ah...well I have to go buy Potions ingredients for the year. I already have a cauldron but my potions kit isn't in here", he mentioned. Severus gave one last longing glance at the bookstore before leading Lily and Potter to buy their things for Potions.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

After a long day of buying their school things, eating a quick lunch, and then settling down in the bookstore to read for hours while Potter twiddled his thumbs and look bored, they made it back to the station and were met by Mrs. Evans, who drove them home. They said goodbye to Lily, and by the time they had made it back to his house on Spinner's End, Severus was feeling magnificent for the first time in years. The looks he'd been receiving from Lily all day weren't the fed-up looks she'd usually given him after their fourth year, she'd looked at him like he was her friend again. After today, she'd looked like she thought he was really worth saving, and that was enough to give him new hope.

It was almost eight in the evening by the time they reached the house, well after Tobias Snape usually left for the night. With that happy thought in mind, Severus pulled himself up the tree behind the house and quietly let himself through the window.

"Sir-Snape, my pant leg is stuck on a branch. I kind of need some help here", Potter's voice came up through the window and he sighed and leaned back out. The material of his jeans was caught between two branches. Severus leaned over and shook the tree, trying to un-hitch the cloth. He snagged his finger on another branch and winced as it dug into his finger, drawing some blood.

After more tugging, he gave up and let himself back out the window, Potter was tottering precariously as he tried to reach down while standing. Severus climbed down until the catch was where he could reach and untangled it.

"It's done", he said. Potter nodded and climbed up into the room. He followed the boy in, but at the last moment his hand slipped on the window frame and instead of his usual graceful entry, he tumbled headfirst into the room.

"Ahh…" He rubbed the spot on his hip that he had fallen on.

"Oh hello sir, I'm sorry if we disturbed you", Potter's voice said while he was still on the floor.

"What…" Severus stood up and looked ahead, his face slowly turning white as he realized who Potter had been greeting. The man in the doorway had an expression of pure rage.

Tobias Snape had heard them.


	5. Either Pity or Mockery

**A/N: This chapter is a little dark, as indicated by the ending of the last. On another note, I do like hearing feedback. I love it when people review with specific feedback or constructive criticism. I'm not being very subtle here am I?...**

**Also, to all the other FFN authors out there, i've found a scene divider method that FFN won't automatically delete ("-.-.-.-.-.-.-"). **

**Chapter 5:**

"Who is this?"

Severus watched his father's face turn red. He held a bottle in one hand. Merlin knew what he had been drinking. In a second, he assessed the situation. He'd been beaten up; he knew he could survive anything his father did to him long enough to make an escape. The problem was Potter. If the boy found out…well, Severus Snape did not like being humiliated. No doubt he would be subjected to even more taunting. Or worse, the boy might pity him. That dreadful look of pity…he hated seeing it in Lily's eyes.

He made his decision quickly. He calmly walked over to Potter and gripped the back of his jumper. Before the boy could protest, he ran back and shoved him out the window, looking out to see him land firmly on his bum. The cry of pain was relieving, a small injury like that was nothing compared to his father's work, and this way he could try to work with the medical explanation he'd given earlier.

"That was one of your _freaks _wasn't it, boy? That _creature _was just like you and your wench of a mother". His voice was dangerously low. _Creature _was a relatively nice term when it came to his insults, and Severus never cared enough for his dead mother to attempt to defend her. He knew he couldn't get away from what was coming. If he ran away now, his father would try to kill him when he came back. Leaving the house was not an option; he didn't have anywhere to stay and there was Potter to consider.

"Yes father, it was. But you don't need to worry about him any longer. He's not going to use anything you would have to pay for", he said meekly, shoving down his pride. Pride was useless here. The best option was to offer the truth and wait for the punishment.

He kept his head down and cringed, waiting for the signature first punch. That always came first. After waiting a few seconds in that position and not feeling Tobias Snape's fist, he looked up.

It was a mistake. A second later he felt glass smash against his face and neck. He'd thrown the bottle with such force that it had shattered over him and his clothes. Severus started to feel slightly dizzy from the blow before he felt the force of a punch across his left cheek, slipping the shards of glass that had attached themselves to his clothes.

"Father please, it won't happen again", being reduced to begging was humiliating, but he was a Slytherin at heard. He knew how to keep himself alive, and fighting back was a mistake. After all, this was nothing compared to what he had endured at the Dark Lord's hand, even if the pain was magnified by the fifteen year old body that hadn't yet grown resistant to pain.

He sank to the floor under the pressure and slipped on powdered glass. His vision was beginning to blur. A sharp kick to his side prevented his attempt to get up.

Sudden pain in his shoulder brought him back to awareness. He clenched his hand around the delicate skin that had been kicked and re-assessed the situation. A few more minutes. He could survive a few more minutes. After that, his father would be too tired to continue. He was intoxicated enough already, he hadn't felt any liquid in the bottle when it had broke, it had been empty.

He felt a hand tangle itself roughly into his hair, and his face was forced up to see his father's glaring above him.

"I never wanted you here, boy. I could have been something if it wasn't for you. I could have been something if your idiot mother hadn't had you. And now you think I want another of you?" He let go of his hold and Severus tumbled back onto the floor.

"You can still be 'something' father. I'll help you, if you want to get back into sports, I'm very good at persuading people…" He knew the words were meaningless; this man who had once had a future had already drunk himself to ruin. But anything that improved his mood was welcomed…

He knew that his offer had been rejected when the next blow hit him in his injury he'd gained in that exact spot previously had prevented him from ingesting anything except for soup for weeks, and only if Lily had some available. He hated to ask for specific foods, it was bad enough leeching off her. Otherwise he remembered trying to live off water, and failing. It had just started to heal…it was probably open again now. _Damn it…if only I had some proper potions ingredients. I could make a Regenerative Potion in minutes…_

He winced again when another kick to the shin made him curl up in pain. Re-assessing again, he made a different decision. Tobias Snape was at home today, far after he usually went out. There was something different this time, and his mood was worse than ever. The slurred speech meant he probably didn't know exactly what he was doing…which meant he wouldn't recognize murder if he committed it. For the first time, Severus decided that the best choice would be to run.

He mustered every last ounce of strength and forced himself to stand, making it around halfway before collapsing again.

_Dear Merlin, did I really come back to defeat the most powerful dark wizard in history only to be killed by my drunk Muggle father? _

Luckily, he was a Slytherin through and through, which meant his mind worked rationally no matter the situation. He couldn't stand up, he'd already surmised that much. Too much damage had been done to his leg and he didn't want to risk burying more glass shards in his skin, they already burned. The only option he saw was the one that would probably get him expelled, but there was no other choice.

In the midst of kicks, he reached into his back pocket and slowly withdrew his wand, prepared to cast a body bind. Offensive magic on a muggle…he'd have to find some way to continue his fighting out of Hogwarts.

As he took his wand out and pointed it up with a shaking hand, he noticed that his father was no longer standing behind him. Instead, he was crouched on the floor, seemingly unconscious. He looked back up into Potter's furious green eyes before falling unconscious.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Harry did not appreciate being shoved out of a window.

His bum was flaming with the pain of many bruises, and his vision was momentarily disoriented from the fall.

"Stupid git, didn't think he was that ashamed of me being in his house", he mumbled to himself. Snape was a real pain in the arse on a normal day but throwing him out of the house so as to not introduce him to his parent? That was beyond rude. He'd made his father's medical condition quite clear, Harry would have been willing to oblige if he'd only given him a chance. He had to admit, he was curious to see Snape's father. If he'd married a witch from a rich pureblood family, he must be something.

He stood up, rubbing his behind. From what he'd seen of Tobias Snape, he looked quite ordinary. He wasn't particularly good-looking, and Merlin knew that had been obvious seeing he was responsible for Snape's lacking features, but he seemed like a respectable middle aged man, minus the bottle of whisky he'd been holding. His hair had been the same color as Snape's, but a little shorter and ruffled, like Sirius's. His eyes were a strange shade of gray with a warm brown tone, and his skin was not nearly as pale as his son's. He'd also been dressed much more nicely than his son, which proved that for some reason, Snape _wanted_ to dress like an orphaned street ruffian who stole from clothes donation bins.

He'd been wearing a look of pure confusion when Harry had briefly glimpsed him, so Snape had probably not introduced him. _Stupid git. Doesn't even tell his father he has a guest. _

Harry walked over on unsteady feet around to the front of the house. The best course of action was to go in, introduce himself, and hope that he'd be able to watch a nice father-son argument about hospitality to guests. It would be nice to see Snape get it from his daddy. He also hoped that maybe his living conditions could be improved, the bed had left a lot to be desired.

He reached the front door and hesitated with his hand on the knocker, but decided it would be better to just go in. He was the one who'd been thrown out of a window after all. He opened the door and immediately heard muffled sounds from the room upstairs. It seemed like Snape was getting a lecture after all. He smiled smugly, but sobered a little when the muffled voices turned to loud thumping sounds. Maybe it would be better to go upstairs and see what was happening…

He walked cautiously up the stairs, and then heard a very familiar sound. It was the sound typically made when a fist collided with a face, he'd had good experience hearing it from the interactions between his own face and uncle Vernon's hand. He ran up the rest of the stairs and onto the landing.

Bursting into the room, he saw something quite different from what he'd expected. The man Snape had called his father was standing over a large bundle of black cloth and jean curled up on the floor. Shards of green glass were littered on the floor, and his former Professor was huddled amongst them, holding his head in his hands as his shin was kicked.

Harry watched in horror and Snape looked up with the look of resignation in his hands, moving his arm from where it covered his head in order to reach behind him, into his back pocket. When his hand appeared again, it was wavering uncertainly, and holding a wand.

_No! _Harry ran forward and braced himself, knees bent, behind the taller man. He then drew a fist and hit as hard as he could right in the small of his back. After the man doubled over in clear pain, he hit again at the back of his neck, effectively knocking him out.

He looked back at Snape to see a wand pointed at him and a confused look in his eyes, before the rod slowly rolled out of his hand and he fell unconscious.

_Dear Merlin!_

Harry crudely stepped over the larger man to observe the boy in front of him. He leaned down and pressed his thumb against Snape's neck, relived to at least find a pulse. He then looked around. The room was filled with broken glass; the ones closest were stained with blood. It was also clear that Tobias Snape would wake up soon. He had to get out.

With that thought in mind, he locked both arms under the younger Snape's arms and slowly lifted him up until only his boots were touching the floor; anything else would be embedded with glass shards if he tried to move. It was surprisingly easy, Snape weighed little more than the average nine year old. Once he had a firm hold he dragged him out of the room and looked around the landing, not knowing where to take him. Outside was too dangerous, it was dark and cold and he could catch some infection from his open glass wounds. It would have to be somewhere inside.

After deciding that, he dragged his former professor into the nearest room, the room he'd seen Snape go into for bed. It was probably the room he was staying in, his trunk was there.

He pulled him into the room and slowly tried to lay him down on the bed. It would be uncomfortable for a while because all the bedding was spread out on the floor for some reason. That reason became clear when the bed frame creaked dangerously when he tried to lower him down.

_Damn it…_

The pile of thin bedding on the floor would have to do. Harry slowly laid him down in the middle, and then stood back to take a deep breath. He had seen far worse injuries during the war. He could handle this. Taking out the beaded purse out of his pocket with shaking hands, he reached in and pulled out a small blue vial. Essence of Dittany. It was honestly the only healing potion he knew how to use, since he had watched Hermione. There were others, but he was clueless about the dose and suspected that he would be doing more harm than good. Snape would tell him what to do when he woke up; he was a Potions Master after all.

He slowly removed the large, oversized coat, sighing in relief when he saw most of the glass shards had not gone any deeper than that. Unfortunately, his neck had been exposed, and it was smeared with blood. That didn't look good. He used some of the cloth from the blanket to push off any glass that hadn't embedded itself in skin; the rest would have to deal with the Dittany.

After clearing as much of the glass as possible, he dripped a few drops of the potion onto the areas with the most blood. They seared for a while before binding closed, expelling any glass as the skin fused together. He didn't know if there were other injuries and where they were located, so he decided to wait for Snape to wake up before attempting to heal them.

After he'd done as much as he could, Harry leaned back against the bed frame, thinking about what he had witnessed. It brought back memories of uncle Vernon, but he knew something like that could never compare. Snape was and would always be a horrible git, but right now, Harry couldn't begin to imagine the horror a fifteen-year-old boy would feel after almost being killed by his own father. The hatred he felt for the former professor would never cease, he was aware of that much, but now the emotion in the air was a mixture of horror and awkwardness.

Harry sighed and closed his eyes. Could Snape really go on living here now? Where would they go? He immediately though of Lily, but it was clear from his actions during breakfast that Snape had tried very hard not to impose on her. Personally, he didn't really like seeing him get along so nicely with his mother, he'd known that they were probably friends from the memories he'd seen, but this was a little too much. He wondered if she'd started dating James yet, it felt weird to consider playing matchmaker for his own parents, but maybe once they started dating they'd be like a family again. A family of friends, but still a family. Lily had tried to mother him since the moment she'd seen him after all, she had offered help with school, made sure he'd eaten a proper breakfast and lunch, and guided him through what to buy. It would have been heaven if she hadn't spent just as much time with Snape.

A rough cough from beside him made him sit up quickly.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The very act of opening his eyes was painful. He could tell from the warm feeling on his neck that some of his injuries had been dealt with, but the pain along his legs and back hadn't gone away.

Opening his eyes, he found himself looking at Harry Potter, the last person he wanted to see. Remembering what had happened in the room, he groaned inwardly. Hopefully he could still salvage some of his pride, making up some story about his father's equally unstable mental condition wouldn't be too hard. He was an expert at bullshitting after all.

"I fixed the cuts on your neck with Essence of Dittany. There are some other potions in here as well but I don't know what they do, if you're hurt anywhere else feel free to use them", the Golden Boy informed him.

He sat up gingerly, feeling the pain shoot through his legs, "show me", he held his hand out for the purse. Harry handed it over immediately and he steadied himself against the bed frame before clicking it open.

There was a blood-replenishing potion, a small vial of it that was half full. He pulled out the stopper and gulped down half of what remained, judging it to be around three spoons. That took care of the lost blood. Now there was just the bruising and the slight internal bleeding. Usually he would leave it be to heal by itself but since Potter conveniently had the material, it would be a waste not to use it. Maybe he could digest lunch after this.

He rummaged further through the purse and found that there was nothing for the bruising or internal repair. Frowning slightly, he delved into though. There was blood-replenishing potion, which contained all the necessary ingredients to transform dying cells into new blood, if it was mixed with belladonna extract, maybe it could burn the interior wounds shut. Then he would just have to swallow burn salve and hope that it worked on the fresh interior burns before his stomach digested it.

With that plan, he rummaged around and pulled out a bottle of belladonna extract. He then poured some into the vial of blood-replenisher and swirled it around so that the two mixed. He noticed Potter looking on curiously.

"What are you doing? Belladonna is poisonous isn't it? Why are you mixing it with a blood-replenishing potion?"'

Clueless boy. Potions class had been a waste on him.

"Of course it's poisonous, all potions are poisonous to some level, they'd be useless if they weren't. If I swallow belladonna directly, it will burn my insides, which will stop the interior bleeding. It's the same logic used when large cuts are burned closed. After that the blood-replenishing potion will make up for the rest of the lost blood, and burn salve with ease the pain until the burns heal", he explained absentmindedly, swallowing the mix. Grimacing at the burning pain inside him, he quickly drew out a small tub of burn salve and scooped some of the mixture out of the container, placing it on his tongue and then pinching his nose as he swallowed it.

"Did it work?"

"Of course it did. What happened to my father? Is he still in the other room?"

"Yes he is. He'll wake up soon though", Potter informed him with a strange look.

This was probably the best time to get rid of any ridiculous pity the boy may have, "There's a reason I've told you to be discreet. My father's mental health is very weak; he's been traumatized since my mother's death and doesn't function properly during the day, which is why I don't stay home. During the night he visits a muggle clinic, but it seems he's forgotten—"

"I'm not an idiot. Sir" Potter added the title on almost mockingly, "I know how to recognize abuse when I see it. If he was really so traumatized he wouldn't have been talking so badly about your mother."

Great. Just bloody great. The boy was mocking him; he was probably overjoyed at seeing his dreaded git of a Potions Master in such a state. He pushed down the hurt he felt at not even being pitied.

"Well then you must surely be happy. I've seen that muggle house you grew up in. Fantastic, it must have been. The pile of gifts every birthday, the family vacations. That's right, my life is bloody terrible. Laugh all you want, I don't care anymore Potter", he spat the name, "My job is to defeat the Dark Lord. When I do that I won't be here anymore, I don't even care what you do in this timeline. Find another Weasley and another Granger and run into the bloody sunset. I don't want your pity and don't you dare mock me."

The expression on Harry's face was a mixture of sorrow and anger. The boy wore his expressions as openly as his clothes. Severus pushed himself up to his feet and forced himself to control his anger. This was nothing new; he'd been pitied by Dumbledore and mocked by the Dark Lord all his life. He couldn't – wouldn't – spoil his only second chance. But right now getting angry would do no good. Luckily he still had his skills at Occlumency, the boy would not see any anger on his face because he'd said everything as darkly and calmly as he could manage. Right now, the problem was figuring out what to do with Tobias Snape.

"Follow me Potter", he didn't look behind to see if the boy was following as he left the room, but he heard footsteps behind him.

He walked down the stairs and entered the kitchen, heading for the familiar drawer. He felt Potter's eyes on him as he pushed the broken wood aside and drew out the clear bottle of blue liquid.

"What is that?" The boy seemed to be trying to ignore what he'd said. It wasn't working. As neutral as he tried to keep his face, the anger showed in his eyes.

"This is Dreamless Sleep. I'm going to administer a dosage of it, you're going to be there in case he wakes up". So you can do whatever you did before if he tries to hit me, Severus though silently.

"Fine."

They walked back up the stairs and into the bedroom where Tobias Snape was still unconscious. He seemed to be regaining a little sense, but Severus immediately knelt down and pushed his mouth open, dripping in exactly three drops. In moments he was in a deep sleep.

He then tried to lift him, keeping his hands under the taller man's shoulders. He managed to lift his shoulders a meter off the ground before he realized he was too heavy to drag into the other room. Potter silently realized he needed help and position himself at the other end, lifting his father's legs so they could carry him. They stumbled into the third bedroom, his father's generally unused room, and leg him down on the bed. Looking down at the older man, Severus realized coldly that he would rather like it if his father never woke up again. It was too bad the Ministry would be able to sense if he, as an underage wizard, was not living with an adult.

"I don't remember any of the glass spilling down on the bed, but if there is you can sleep on the sofa downstairs. I'm retiring for the day. You need to be up early tomorrow, Lily's mother is driving us to the station to board the Hogwarts Express." With that, he sleepily walked into his room and closed the door, falling asleep on the bloodstained sheets.


	6. The Hogwarts Express

**The reviews were awesome, they really make an author's day! **

**Also, I think I may need to get a beta reader, mainly for grammar touch ups and general advice. So if you're willing to beta read, PM me. **

**Note: plot detectives are awesome.**

**Chapter 6:**

Severus woke up feeling better than he had felt in months. He had a jarring headache that thumped painfully against his skull and his legs were still sore, but his internal bleeding was gone. He got out of bed and surveyed the mess around him. Little pieces of glass littered the area around the sheets, and one corner of the blanket seeped red with dried blood. His jacket was lying on the bed frame where Potter and left it, but his shirt was dirty and spotted with blood as well. He immediately removed it and stood up, wearing only his jeans. Throwing the shirt to one side, he walked out of the room and headed to the bathroom.

When he entered, he braced himself against the sink and looked up at the mirror. Limp hair, pale skin, a neck lined with shimmering sweat, and half his ribs visible, it was no wonder Lily hadn't wanted to be seen with him. He was a mess.

It needed to change. He had a second chance now and he couldn't waste it away, he couldn't let Lily see the same hopeless boy she'd always seen. It was also a new year at Hogwarts, and Merlin knew he could use some company apart from Avery and Mulciber, if he could even find people interesting enough he'd try. He'd never been particularly good at making new acquaintances, he'd never actually wanted any, but he would try. It would probably please Lily as well.

With that thought in mind, he pulled his toothbrush out of the cup by the sink and completed his morning necessities. He then walked into the shower and turned up the water, feeling the warm water wash over his skin. He picked up the bottle of shampoo that his father left in the corner, hesitating a moment before opening it and squeezing some of the pink liquid onto his hand. He'd never cared for his looks, but he knew his hair could be better. In his older body, it was probably beyond hopeless due to years of being exposed to potions fumes, but now it could still change. His father's hair wasn't nearly as bad after all, and his mother's had even been silky. He worked the foam into his hair and delved into his thoughts.

Today was the first day of his fifth year. By this time, he was well recognized as a member of Avery's group, albeit a rather uninvolved one. They didn't have 'friends', only associates. This could work to his advantage if he played it carefully. His first concern would be to make sure Lily never saw him with them, he didn't want to get her involved in any of it and he'd already assured her that he'd try to distance himself from them. He could work his way into the Dark Lord's inner circle secretly from there, except this time instead of groveling at his feet he would make Voldemort come after him. He would excel so highly in his subjects that every death eater and ministry worker alike would want him. That way he could always have the excuse that he was studying, and he could make contacts out of his own house.

He rinsed his hair and stepped out of the shower, reaching for his towel. Wrapping it around him, he put on his underwear and jeans and walked out of the bathroom. After hesitating for a second, he walked into his father's room instead of his own.

His only good shirt had been ruined, and he only had the blouse now, which he would _not _be wearing on the way to Hogwarts. He had enough problems with taunting without needing to have his sexuality questioned as well. The only option left was to…borrow…one of his father's shirts. It wasn't likely the man would suspect anything after all, and he was still out cold with the extra dosage of Dreamless Sleep. Wincing at how pathetic his own situation was, he opened the closet. He didn't linger while he pulled a white button-up shirt and a casual v-neck sweater off their hangers.

He put the shirt on as he walked into his own room, and pulled the sweater on top. He would have stopped with just the shirt, but it looked like it was going to rain and this was Britain. No matter how deep in the summer, rain was cold.

He pulled his trunk out from under his bed and opened it, making sure everything was there. Robes, cauldron, potions kit, textbooks, quills and parchment, it was fully packed. A few minutes later, he heard Potter exit the bathroom too and stood up, carrying his trunk with him. The boy was in his room with the purse.

"Go on. I'm going to throw my trunk down first", he explained, and watched Potter climb out the window. After looking out and making sure he wasn't in the way, he threw the trunk out and climbed out after it.

"Sir-Snape, how are we going to deal with Professor Dumbledore?" Harry asked.

"You're going to tell him that you're from the future, and that you came back in time by accident during the war with Voldemort. Essentially, you're going to tell him the truth, except you're not going to tell him anything about me", Severus replied, "if you try telling a lie, he'll see through it with Legilimency anyway, and you're a terrible Occlumens. I wouldn't even say you are one."

"I see…and he's just going to be fine with letting me into Hogwarts? What about my schedule?"

"Yes he'll be fine. It's a school after all. And the schedule isn't a problem; fifth years don't have NEWTs so we obviously all take the same subjects, only at different times of the day. You can follow anyone's schedule, or request one from Dumbledore."

The rest of the walk was generally silent. Severus was too absorbed in continuing to walk despite the slight pain in his legs, and he had no patience for any more questions. They reached Lily's house in a record time of twenty minutes.

After he rung the doorbell, it was Lily's mother who opened the door.

"Hello Mrs. Evans. I hope we're not late", Severus told her.

"Not at all, we still have five minutes to go. But I suppose we may as well start now, Lily's been so excited", she turned back into the house, "Lily! Come on, we're leaving. Severus and Harry are already here."

"I'm coming, mum!" a voice replied from inside.

Soon enough, Lily Evans appeared at the doorway. She was dressed in loose white shorts and a simple blue t-shirt, her hair tied back into a braid. Severus still couldn't believe she was alive again, and even while dressed so casually, she looked amazingly beautiful to his eyes.

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At the station, Lily's mother gave her daughter a fierce hug goodbye and patted Harry on the shoulder. She then nodded slightly awkwardly to Severus, she knew better than to hug him. Once in the past she had tried, and he had been so surprised that he had stayed dead still. Later on he suspected Lily had told her mother how wary he was of any type of physical contact, and the interactions between her mother and him had become increasing awkward.

"Don't stay up too late doing homework, and eat well. That includes you Severus", she gave him a worried look and then smiled before leaving them to the train. He suspected that she knew a little about his home life, but not enough to interfere. Harry stepped onto the train and looked at the other student faces with anticipation. Luckily he wasn't limping as badly today since he'd slept on the sofa like Snape had suggested, so he made his way to an empty compartment. Soon after, Snape and Lily joined him, in the middle of conversation.

"-Just remember what you said, Sev. I'm holding you to that, and it's only because I'm worried about you", Lily was saying. She turned to Harry, "and you, if you see him with a boy named Avery be sure to tell me so I can yell at him properly."

"Avery?" Harry had no idea what she was saying.

Lily's eyes narrowed slightly as she looked pointedly at Snape before continuing, "your cousin has horrible taste in friends, and I'm worried he might be influenced by them. You have to help me help him, Harry."

After the insult she'd dealt, Harry looked at Snape, ready to defend his mother in case he argued. But curiously enough, he'd completely ignored the jab, instead looking slightly amused.

"I don't know, Lily. I can't judge, can I?" Harry replied carefully, interfering was a bad idea. The name itself was vaguely familiar.

"Oh but there's no need to judge. You'll see it right away, he's horribly nasty to the new first years, he never does his homework, and he goes through a new girl every week. And", she leaned a little closer to him, "they're all considering joining He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

After she said this, Harry watched Snape's reaction carefully. Instead of the annoyance he expected, his expression only showed amusement. He supposed he was humoring her.

"Don't worry so much Lily. The sorting hat put me into Slytherin for a reason. I do have to deal with them for the next three years since they're my roommates, but I'll be fine", he finally assured her, "on another note, which NEWTs are you considering for next year?"

That seemed to be a good question. Lily immediately went on about how much she loved Charms and Transfiguration and how proud she was that Slughorn expected her to do Potions as well. Snape was still paying attention long after Harry tuned out, even putting in the occasional comment. Finally, he thought she'd ranted on enough.

"I'm going to go change into my robes", Harry announced, walking out of the compartment, "we're probably halfway there."

He stepped into the aisle and walked in the direction of the restrooms, where most of the students changed into their robes before they arrived at Hogwarts. He slipped out of his clothes and changed quickly, pulling on his Gryffindor robes.

Walking back, he noticed a compartment that he hadn't looked into on the way out. It held four laughing boys.

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"-I probably bored the poor boy to death didn't I?" Lily asked sheepishly after Harry had left. Severus was quite sure she did, but he didn't want to tell her. He loved hearing her rant; the passion in her voice when she talked about academia was heavily contagious. She was like Hermione, in a way. Except vastly different because while the know-it-all girl had simply memorized the books and prided herself on regurgitating facts into her ten-foot essays, Lily had real passion for what she studied. Even Slughorn had noticed her natural affinity to potions, and her wild sprit had made her an excellent dualist.

"His loss", Severus replied simply, "I actually really like hearing you rant."

Lily gave him a wide smile, "then you're the only one who can put up with it! What are you planning on pursuing anyway?"

He thought carefully about his reply, "I definitely wish to continue Potions and Defense against the Dark Arts. I actually plan on taking as many NEWTs as possible, even though I don't expect to get an Outstanding in Transfiguration."

"You'll get an Outstanding in everything, Sev. You're amazing at anything you try; it's one of the reasons I don't want to see you following the same path as Avery. Although…I actually trust that you won't. There's something different about you", Lily tilted her head to one side in though.

"Oh?" He knew that his mannerisms as changed since he was a thirty-year-old man mentally, but he never guessed she'd noticed. Most of their friendship had been one-sided after all. He'd noticed everything about her from hair trimmings to new clothes, but she'd never actually noticed even when he'd stolen money to impress her with his dress robes during the year Hogwarts had held the Yule ball.

"Yes, although I don't know what. You've been acting differently ever since you came to tell me that your cousin was living with you", she suddenly looked miserable, and "It's the situation with Harry's parents, isn't it? Do you want to…speak about them? What kind of people were they?"

"Well, I hated his father". He considered denying that their deaths had been the cause of his 'change', but the look in her eyes was so intense that he couldn't stop himself from telling her some of the truth.

"His father was very ill-mannered and took something very important away from me. I don't miss him at all. But his mother…". He paused a little before deciding what to say, "She was amazing. She was an extremely talented witch, and a good person at heart. She wasn't perfect, she was a little self-centered and she could be rather harsh and un-sympathetic. Sometimes she held grudges for too long…but she made up for it in her other characteristics. She was warm and loving when she wanted to be, and quite the hellcat when facing enemies. And she would do anything possible to keep her loved ones safe. Her involvement…if she hadn't protected him, Potter would have died", he finished. That was all he could really say without giving too much away. "I trust you know not to speak of this to him? He is still recovering."

Lily's eyes were wide. He suddenly realized that he'd said more about himself in the past few seconds than he ever had before. This was the first time he'd ever told her what he thought of someone, or exposed himself in any way. For a moment he regretted it, it was too sudden, too different.

Lily seemed to think the same way, but she took it as another 'change' in him, "Oh Sev, I had no idea. If you ever want to tell me about it you can find me ok? I'm not the only one who can put up with endless ranting", she smiled warmly, "now I just noticed that Harry hasn't been back in a while. Surely it doesn't take fifteen minutes to change into robes?"

Severus frowned, "no it doesn't. I'll go look for him", he hadn't told her that they hadn't spoken to Dumbledore about his transfer yet. Hopefully he hadn't been dragged off the train because he wasn't an official student. He got up and left the compartment, walking through the halls in the direction of the changing rooms.

A few steps before the rooms, Potter was leaning on the door of an open compartment, talking to the people inside. Curious, Severus stepped closer. He knew that Potter didn't know many of the students, so someone must have asked why he was there after not recognizing him. He hoped desperately that the boy was making up a good lie.

When he went closer, he regretted it immediately. Unfortunately, there were a few people he knew, four people, to be exact. And they weren't the people Severus ever wanted to see again.

"Hey Snivellus! Good summer sitting around in your shack?" James Potter hooted. Some of the students in the other compartments looked on curiously. Once, in his third year, one of the other students had found out that he attended Hogwarts on grants because he couldn't afford the money for supplies. Ever since then they'd been assuming the worst of him, assuming that he had no good clothes and lived in a shack. That his father was an alcoholic and his mother was a whore…it was actually surprising how accurate their guesses were.

Severus mentally took a deep breath and raised a few of the thinner Occlumency shields he had so that no expression would show on his face. He wouldn't put up with these childish taunts any longer; he wasn't a child at heart anymore.

"Potter, someone is waiting for you", He said in an even tone. He could see that the boy was nervous and didn't know what to do, but the last thing he needed was pity.

The other boys in the compartment looked a little nonplussed at the response. In the past, he'd always made an attempt to combat anything they said, and he knew that his replies were works of art. He could turn any insult around, and he'd keep dong it until James and his friends started something physical. Then, he'd always lose. He was a powerful dualist even as a child, but four against one was simply unfair.

After a few seconds, Sirius Black came over his confusion at his reaction.

"So next chapter of your introduction to Hogwarts, mate. Snivelly over there is a big no-no. If you get too close to him the grease might rub off on you", he joked, "not the best first person to know around here, especially since the grease ball plays with the Dark Arts."

"Sorry guys, but he means Lily. I should probably go. I'll see you in the Gryffindor common room, I guess", Harry gave them a friendly but sheepish smile and turned to follow Severus.

After hearing that he was going to see Lily, the Marauders looked a little more relaxed.

"You know Lily? That's great, she's a good friend of mine. I'll see you later, and I expect a copy of your family tree so we can figure out why we look so similar", he winked, "keep away from Snivellus, his lameness might be contagious."

The other students who'd looked over excitedly at the prospect of seeing Snivellus Snape bullied went back to their own conversations. Harry followed Severus back to their compartment without saying a word.

"Oh hey Harry. What took you so long?" Lily questioned after he sat down.

"Met some people who wanted to know who I was. Apparently they knew every fifth year in the school so they noticed that I was new", Harry replied.

Lily smiled, "you met James and Sirius and Remus didn't you? It's true, they do know everyone. Careful around them though, they're not good examples to follow if you want to do well academically. They're pranksters, all four of them", for the first time, she gave Severus a quick apologetic glance as she said this.

The rest of the ride went by mostly in silence. They were nearing Hogwarts and Harry was nervous about meeting Dumbledore. Lily was leaning against the window with her eyes closed, presumable trying to take a nap for the last fifteen minutes. Severus was lost in thought.

He realized that he had failed to take the house rivalry into account. It was inevitable that Potter would make friends with the Marauders; it would help him keep an eye on Pettigrew. But there was also the problem of meeting with him now that he had to keep appearances as another Slytherin-hating Gryffindor.

The best way to go about would be to set a meeting place and time. He and Potter would meet once a week and go over their plans, if anyone asked they could pass it off as tutoring sessions. Everyone knew Severus Snape was one of the most intelligence students in the school, and it was obvious why they would keep it secret. A worthy Gryffindor would die before being seen associating with the likes of him. They only accepted Lily for it because they felt she was being kind to him, giving him friendship as a charity. Nobody else knew how far their friendship went, not even Potter.

Eventually Severus and Lily went to change into their robes, and when they came back the train came to a stop. The prefects filled the aisles, making sure all students got out of their seats and off the train safely. Once they were off the train, Severus grabbed Harry's sleeve and pulled him aside.

"Why-"

"You need to speak to Dumbledore as soon as possible", Severus cut him off, "and it will probably have to be done before the sorting. When we enter the castle, go directly to Dumbledore's office. All the other teachers will be preparing for the ceremony, but Dumbledore doesn't appear until it starts", he spoke from years of experience as a Hogwarts teacher, and Harry nodded. As he turned around, Severus slipped something into the pocket of Harry's robes and walked ahead of him.

They met with Lily as she was boarding the boats.

"Where did you two go?"

"Potter got a little lost. I had to go back and find him", he replied. They stepped into the carriages once they were across the lake, and made it to the castle building. Once the gates were opened, Severus gave Harry a nudge. Understanding it, the boy left the group to enter the building early with the prefects.

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Harry was nervous.

He stood in front of the large gargoyle that guarded the headmaster's office, hesitating a little. He had no idea how Dumbledore would react to the news. Coming back in time and abandoning the future was not a very Gryffindor thing to do, and he couldn't mention Snape's involvement at all without apparently endangering the plan.

"Professor Dumbledore?" He called, his voice breaking slightly. The gargoyle shifted a little, and after a long silence it finally began to move. He watched it turn around slowly, the stone scraping against the floor, before revealing the swirling stairs. Harry began walking up, trying to quell his anxiety. After fighting the butterflies in his stomach for quite some time, he decided it might be better to appear as a cowering student for a while.

When he reached the top, the older wizard was sitting behind his desk, his hands clasped in front of him. He was peering out from behind his half-moon glasses, and for a moment Harry was so relived at seeing his father figure alive and well that his worry melted away.

"Well then. You must be the new student I sensed entering the school. I was wondering when you'd come to see me. Sit down", he waved at the chair in front of the desk.

Harry sat down, clutching the armrests with both hands. Behind him, he could feel Fawkes's eyes on him, the phoenix had always watched him whenever he came to the headmaster's office, and it was rather unnerving.

"Would you like some tea? Maybe a lemon drop?"


	7. It's just a Nickname

**A one-day update, you'd better be proud of me. Anyway, the introductory scenes in this story are finished, and the main plot has almost chapters are going to start getting longer. Also, I haven't found Marauder-Era-Mulciber's first name, so in this story he will be Adrian Mulciber, not to be confused with the Ravenclaw Adrian Pucey. And for future reference, Snape's room mates are Avery, Mulciber, and Rookwood.**

**Chapter 7**

"No thank you sir. I actually have to discuss something with you before the sorting ceremony starts", Harry began, "I…want to become a Hogwarts student again. You see, I used to be a student in the future so technically I am a student but since I came back to the past I can't just reassume my stay here and I'm actually quite older than I look since I used a potion to fit in with the time and…" he suddenly realized he didn't have a lie prepared for why he was back in time in the first place.

Luckily, Dumbledore interrupted him before it could look like he'd suddenly stopped talking.

"Calm down, dear boy. I'm getting older, you know. Am I correct interpreting that jumble of words as to mean that you were a student of Hogwarts in the future?" The older wizard had a twinkle in his eye.

"Yes sir", Harry said meekly.

"How did you get to this time, my boy?" He asked curiously. Harry felt in his pocket where Snape had slipped him the Time Sphere, and took the small bronze ball out. He handed it over to the headmaster, who examined it curiously.

"There is a very strong charm on this, what is it called and where did you obtain one?" The headmaster turned the ball around in his long, wrinkled fingers, examining every portion of it.

"Someone I knew in the future gave it to me sir, I think it's called a Time Sphere", he answered truthfully. He did remember Snape saying that Dumbledore was a powerful Legilimens, so the truth was the best bet.

"I see… do you mind if I keep this?" He looked up over his glasses.

"Not at all sir. I know that travel to the future is impossible, so it's no use to me", he admitted. He watched as the older wizard dropped the Time Sphere into an open drawer.

"I assume that you wish to continue your association here as a fifth year student?" He was smiling softly.

"Yes sir", Harry awaited the dreaded question of 'why'.

"Well that's just fine then."

Harry gaped for a few seconds, "that's…it? Sir?"

"Oh no that is most definitely not it, my boy. I do have a reason for not asking you any more questions, and a theory on why you are here that I do not wish to confirm. Do indulge an old man, and don't tell me anything further. I suppose we should get to business now", the soft smile never left his face, and he stood and walked out from behind the desk.

"Business, professor?"

"Ah yes. You will need to be sorted, after all. I can see that you assume yourself to be a Gryffindor, but I can't let a student go by unsorted, can I?" He pulled an old hat off one of the shelves. Walking over to Harry, he paused before placing the hat on his head.

"Your name?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Harry James Potter, sir", Harry replied, still not fully aware of what had just happened. He allowed the headmaster to place the Sorting Hat on his head, and cringed at the thought of being sorted anywhere but Gryffindor.

The hat seemed to sense it immediately.

_Gryffindor, eh? Why so particular? I've never Sorted anyone as old as you, but surely you can't be so closed-minded. What do you think is so wrong about, say, Hufflepuff?_

_There's nothing…wrong…with the House. It's just that I don't think I could be so loyal and hardworking even if I tried. I don't think I'm that sort of person, really. I get angry quite often these days, I can't even control my temper. _

_Is that right? Then what about Ravenclaw? Surely you don't protest the worthy goal of pursuing to improve the knowledge of wizard kind? _

Harry smiled under the hat; _I'm not nearly book-smart enough to be in Ravenclaw. And even if I was, pursuing knowledge is very important to me, but not as important as other qualities. _

_I see… So. You're not a loyal Hufflepuff, nor do you think you make a knowledge-seeking Ravenclaw. There's still Slytherin, boy. In Slytherin, you could accomplish so much. You have the ambition, and have the potential to learn the cunning. You could become someone great. _

_No. _Harry was surprised at his own adamancy. _I'm not a Slytherin. I know too much about Slytherin to believe myself to be one. Slytherins don't care enough about friendship, or love. They are too focused on power, and too many of them play with the Dark Arts. I wouldn't fit in, and I don't want to. _

The hat seemed to almost laugh. _You have a very narrow-minded view, boy. Eventually, it will change. You will grow out of this warped perspective you seem to have, and you will realize that not all Slytherins are the people you describe. But for now…_

"Gryffindor!" The Hat finally burst out with.

Dumbledore clapped softly and smiled, "you seem to know yourself well, Harry James Potter. You'll be staying in room fourteen with students Frank Longbottom and Remus Lupin. Your schedule will be waiting for you on your bed. I wish you all the best continuing your education here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Harry Potter walked out of the room much more confused than he was before walking in.

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After the Sorting Ceremony was finished, Lily disappeared to perform her prefect duties and take the first years to their dorms. Harry noticed that she was quite well known; even the younger students seemed to be familiar with her. He followed her halfway to the Gryffindor dormitories before long fingers wrapped themselves firmly around his wrist and led him elsewhere.

He turned to see Snape, and followed him back into the hall. Snape lead him up a staircase and kept walking in silence.

"I could just tell you what happened in the morning, you know. There's no reason to do this now, I'll be caught out after curfew on my first day. I shouldn't be losing house points on my first day", Harry hissed; trying to pry the long, thin fingers off his wrist.

"That's very true. It's also very true that you've probably never paid attention to _rules _in your life, and so I'll leave it to you to figure out how to get back to your dorm", Snape replied.

They finally stopped in front of a small door, near the top of the castle. For a moment he wondered if they were at the Ravenclaw tower, before he pushed open the door. The room inside well lit with candles that were charmed to turn off at ten o'clock. It was huge, and filled with tan, white, and brown birds. The slight odor of the room was decidedly of owl-excrement.

Shutting the door behind them, Snape finally turned to him.

"Listen very carefully. I don't know exactly how naïve you are, but we cannot meet during the day. That would run the risk of us being seen together, and I don't need to elaborate on why Gryffindors and Slytherins should not be seen together", he leaned back against a counter and folded his arms, shooing away a white owl that tried to peck at him with a nasty glare that could probably only be emitted by his eyes.

"So we're going to meet in the Owlery?"

"Yes, unless you can find another place that no one except Madame Hooch visits. No one else comes here because they deliver messages from their own rooms. These are school owls and are only used when the school wishes to deliver acceptance letters or student information letters", he glared at another one that ventured too close to him, "back off, bird."

Harry sat down on a stool nearby, "I suppose I should tell you about the meeting with Dumbledore now", he absentmindedly stroked a white owl lingering nearby, "it was very unexpected."

"How so?" Snape raised an eyebrow.

"Well…he didn't ask anything. I expected that he would be at least a little suspicious, but he wasn't curious at all. I told him that I was a Hogwarts student from the future and that I was sent back in time, and that was it. He put the sorting hat on me and it declared that I was a Gryffindor."

"Of course it did. Gryffindor stupidity doesn't change very easily. However…He didn't ask why you were there?" Snape's eyes narrowed in curiosity.

"No. He only said that he had reasons for not wanting to know", Harry rubbed the back of his neck. He didn't know exactly why the former potions' master was being so uptight. He'd seemed almost content on the train, but now he was fidgeting and snarling at everything.

Snape folded his arms tighter and looked out the window for a while, lost in though. His eyebrows were furrowed and he didn't even notice the brown owl that tried to peck at his curiously dry hair. He must have finally done something to it. Finally, he sighed.

"Tiresome old man. So convinced that there is only ever one way. It was the same with the prophecy, he's the epitome of stubbornness."

"I don't understand", Harry watched him curiously.

"I do not know exactly why he's refusing, but I have a good idea of what some of the reasons may be. We'll know for sure eventually. For now, it is good enough that he does not know of my involvement", he pulled the strand of his hair that had been taken by the owl and winced as it was pulled off his head, watching it disappear into the bird's beak, "what else?"

Harry smothered a grin at Snape's expense, "he took the Time Sphere to examine."

"That's good. He won't find any traces of my magic in it, I was very careful while making it. It is, however, an item created with Dark Magic so he will be suspicious of you for a while. If he ever contacts you again make sure to emphasize that you are here against your will, and you did not know how it was made. Did you get your room?"

"Yes. I'll be sharing with Frank Longbottom and Remus Lupin", he told him.

"Longbottom is a good ally to have, and an eventual member of the order. He may be exceedingly irritating sometimes but he's very good with dueling. Keep in contact with him. Lupin, however, is entirely useless. If you get too close to him his idiot gang of foolish pranksters may involve you in his…situation", his voice dripped with hate.

"Remus was a friend of mine. And he looked nice, the fact that he is a werewolf is not his fault", Harry argued. He held back when he saw the contempt in Snape's eyes. Seven years of that glare had not softened the impact at all. He wondered where the horrible mood had come from, but decided to hypothesize that Snape must have frequent mood swings.

"It's not his situation itself, it the way he shamelessly allows those fools to make use of it. I couldn't care less whether you wish him a good morning, but do not get close enough to be involved in their monthly activities. You are under suspicion as it is, as a new student", he lowed his voice, "more importantly, we need to talk about how you will rely your information to me."

"I thought we were going to meet here in the Owlery", Harry still wasn't over the jab at Remus but he reluctantly let it go.

"That's probably best. Be here every Friday night, so that you can rely any changes in Pettigrew or advances in any of the work I give you to further the plan."

"And I suppose you'll tell me about how much you've managed to infiltrate Voldemort's ranks?" Harry questioned. It was uncomfortably one-sided. He was in full agreement with relaying his findings to Snape, who he supposed was sort of his partner, but not getting any information back was rather disheartening.

"Don't be a fool. Without even the smallest capacity for Occlumency your mind is an open chasm. I do not plan on entrusting you with any information that may get me killed", he gave Harry his signature sneer, "don't forget that here, you are no longer the Boy Who Lived. Not only will you _not _be recognized by every wizard alive as you are used to, you no longer have your mother's protection against the Dark Lord. It doesn't exist in this time period; Lily isn't your mother yet and may never be. If you are caught by the Death Eaters, you will die, and before that all your knowledge will be tortured out of you. I will not be telling you anything that is not completely necessary."

Harry was still caught up on his previous remark, "what do you mean, Lily may never be my mother?"

Snape gave him a look that clearly relayed how clearly he thought Harry was dumber than a baby Snugglepuff, "do you really think that with us here, Lily and James are really going have a baby boy named Harry, who will coincidentally grow up to look exactly like you? They may never even marry."

Harry's face grew white, "surely we can't change things that much? I know that James fancies her, and she's probably fond of him."

Snape's sneered, "Lily Evans is not _fond _of James Potter. She does not even begin to tolerate him until their final year, when they are forced together in their Order duties. Your visions of your parents are quite distorted. There was never any young childhood love or fairytale-esque romance. They didn't attend Hogsmeade together every weekend as Lupin no doubt told you, he just followed her around everywhere and she pretended he didn't exist. It's true that James drools after her, but only because she's probably the only girl in all of Gryffindor that he hasn't snogged senseless yet."

Harry tried to wonder why the former Potions Master was being especially grumpy, but his thoughts were filled with the horror of not seeing his parents fall in love, of ruining their future with his presence. If they never met, it would be his own fault…

Unfortunately, his thoughts were distorted due to the anger he felt at Snape's remarks. He'd insinuate that his father was a player, and Harry couldn't ignore that.

"I know you're just being a git because they bullied you, and it's not like you don't deserve it. Can't even stand a bit of teasing, can you, Snivellus?" He taunted. The owls sensed the tension in the air and moved away from them in a flurry of wings. Harry stood still. He was equally angry with himself for possibly ruining his parents' love as he was with Snape for being such an insensitive git. For a moment, there was silence.

The next moment, he was pushed back against the wall of the Owlery, his stool tipped over and a group of scattered birds regarding him and his offender silently with beady eyes. Snape was standing in front of him, his wand thrust at his neck and murderous expression on his face.

"What did you say?" The former potions master's voice was dangerously low, and he stood deathly still, long fingers wrapped tightly over his wand. His other hand was clenched tightly into a fist and his eyes screamed murder.

"Bloody h- calm down!" Harry stared back incredulously, "you don't need to get so worked up over a nickname!"

"If you ever say the word again, be sure that I will take any information I need directly from your mind and leave your dead body to the owls", he warned, slowly removing his wand from where it was pressed against skin, "I've said all I needed to. Be here this Saturday at eight o'clock."

With that, Snape pocketed his wand and stormed out of the room, leaving a bewildered Harry behind.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The next morning was a Sunday. The first thing Harry saw when he opened his eyes were two other pairs brown of eyes staring back at him, one belonging to a disheveled boy with messy light brown hair and the other belonging to a tall, mousy boy.

"We were kind of wondering…" Remus began.

"Why the empty bed in our room had finally been filled", Frank finished.

Harry looked at them apologetically. He'd snuck back into the room last night without waking either of them.

"Sorry about that", Harry smiled and sat up, reaching for his glasses. He put them on and continued.

"I'm Harry Potter, a new student here. I guess you could call me a transfer student. I was only given my room and schedule yesterday evening, and I got lost on the way here so I got back quite late. The …uh…Fat Lady wouldn't let me in."

It was true, he'd spend fifteen minutes convincing the portrait that yes, he was a new student and yes, he was most surely a Gryffindor.

"Oh, ok. Cool. Welcome to Hogwarts Harry", Frank smiled at him.

"Yeah, welcome. You're the bloke from the train aren't you? The one James took a liking too. I wasn't really paying attention, I was trying to read", Remus told him.

"'Trying' is all you can do with a book when someone as loud as James Potter is around", Frank interjected. They both smiled at that, and Harry found himself grinning as well.

"Well, it's Sunday. No classes or anything, so if you want we could show you around", Frank offered, "Has anyone told you that you look frighteningly similar to James Potter? Are you two related?"

"Not that I'm aware of, no", Harry swung his legs out of bed, "I'll take you up on your offer though. I barely know anyone around here."

"Who do you know?" Frank asked him, sitting down on the bed.

"I know Lily Evans, she lives close to me and told me all about Hogwarts. And she helped me with my school shopping because she's a prefect and probably knows everything there is to know about Hogwarts", he replied as he walked over to his purse and clicked it open, "and I know Severus Snape, because unfortunately enough, he's my cousin."

"Snape? He's your cousin?" Remus looked startled.

"Only in name. I'm somewhat related to the Prince family, his mother's line", Harry rattled off absently as he dug his arm into the purse, "we don't get along well though. Hopefully I won't need to depend on him for anything here."

"Now that, we can rescue you from. Us Gryffindors help each other out, and we'll make sure you don't need to associate with Snape if you don't want to. He…doesn't have the best reputation. He hangs out with the other Slytherins, and they want to become death eaters and serve You Know Who", Remus told him. He was grimacing slightly with dislike. Although he didn't show it as prominently as James and Sirius, it was obvious that he hated Snape as much as they did.

"I'll bet", Harry murmured as he pulled out his robes from the purse and made for the bathroom to change out of the wrinkly pajamas bottoms he'd gone to sleep in, "he's scarily good at dark spells and potions. S'only a matter of time now". The other two boys watched in amazement as the clothes were pulled out of the tiny bag.

"Is that an extending charm? It's brilliant! How powerful is it?" Frank asked him.

"Well…I use it as my trunk. My sister charmed it. The bag is hers, it was done last minute so I have to deal with this purse", he explained, "Maybe I'll change the color later." He intended to do no such thing, it was a keepsake of Hermione's, and had been the clutch she'd carried to the Yule Ball. That was the day Harry had first seen her as a woman instead of seeing her as his bookish friend with crazy hair, he intended to guard the purse with his life.

When he came out of the bathroom dressed and ready, Frank and Remus were waiting.

"Come on, we'll give you a tour and introduce you to the other Gryffindors", Frank lead them out of the room and down the hallway, into the common room.

The Gryffindor Commons were, as always, bustling with life. The fire was going brightly in one corner, while four girls sat in front of it playing exploding snap. Chess tables littered one corner where students tested their game skills, and sofas were spread around everywhere with red-robed students lazing on them. It was nostalgically similar to the common room Harry had always recognized as part of his home. When he came down, he found Lily immediately, and she got up to meet him.

"Good Morning Harry. I suppose I should make your presence known", she stepped up to a table and put her foot on a chair, stepping onto it.

"Everyone please pay attention", she spoke, her voice magnified with magic, "that includes you, Sirius Black", the other boy smiled sheepishly and turned to pay attention to the Gryffindor prefect.

"I have some news. There is a new student joining us today, a transfer student who's been sorted into the illustrious house of Gryffindor. Please welcome Harry Potter to Hogwarts", she waved both hands at him. Harry smiled warmly at his audience, and a round of clapping and cheers erupted.

James got up from where he was seated and elaborately put an arm around Harry's shoulder, forcing him into a stylish bow.

"Yes, yes everyone. Cheer for my lovely doppelganger. Later on, you can attend our meeting while we analyze our family trees", he went on. Lily rolled her eyes at him and Harry found himself smiling despite being pulled back into a straight position.

"I suppose you've met Frank and Remus today, as they have the only room with two free beds", Lily asked him.

"Yes I have. They've offered to take me on a tour", he replied turning to look at his two roommates.

"Well then you're off to a great start. Off with you, Harry. I'll see you in class on Monday", Lily gave him a pat on the back and went back to join the two other girls she was talking with.

The rest of the day was spent pleasantly. Harry's anxiety melted as he was introduced to various other students and lead around the building. He pretended to be learning his way around the castle for the first time, and came across quite a few familiar faces.

"And this is the court yard", Remus lead him out of the castle into the court yard, which was filled with students outside for fresh air, "sometimes the teachers come around here and you can ask them for homework help."

"Don't be such a nerd Remus", Frank joked.

Harry's eyes were elsewhere. Leaning against one of the trees was Severus Snape, who seemed to be thoroughly ignoring him. He was the only student in the yard who was by himself, and he had his nose deep in a thick book.

"Oh look, Snape's here", Remus commented.

"Frankly I'm kind of amazed he actually leaves his room, with a complexion as pale as that", Frank added. For a moment Remus looked like he was about to put in another jab, but he stopped.

"You know, he may be absolutely terrible but I feel sorry for him sometimes", he said instead. He walked further away from where Snape was reading and headed back into the castle.

"Sorry for him? Why?" Harry followed him in.

"Well…he deserves everything that comes his way and it's true that he dabbles in the dark arts, but it's hard not to feel sorry for a bloke with no friends", Remus replied, hesitatingly, "don't tell that to James or Sirius though, they'd call me a big softie."

Harry didn't understand properly, "no friends?"

"Yea", Frank joined in, "he's probably the only student who doesn't have any. He's a little friendly with Lily, but everyone knows she only talks with him because they live close together. He'd never make friends with a muggleborn anyway. Too prejudiced, apparently his mother was a pretty firm supporter of the Pure Blood rights act back when it was first considered. Snape doesn't even allow himself to be seen talking to most people with impure blood."

"What about…Avery?" Harry remembered Lily mentioning the name.

"Avery's not really his friend. He'd never befriend a half-blood, the only people that self-righteous git calls friends are Adrian Mulciber and Augustus Rookwood, and you can see him with a new pureblooded girlfriend on his arm every week and a crowd of first year Slytherin You Know Who fans at every meal. He only talks to Snape occasionally because they're both trying to become Death Eaters. He doesn't go to Hogsmeade with him or hang out with him during free time like normal friends do. They're just roommates", Frank explained.

"You're telling me that he has no friends at all?" Harry still found it hard to believe. Of course no one would want to be friends with an evil git like Snape, but still…_none…_

"Starting to feel sorry for your cousin?" Remus asked.

"Merlin no. If he thought for a second that I pitied him he'd Obliviate me and ship me to Durmstrang", Harry winced at the thought, "I just find it a little hard to believe."

"That's true. If he had as much hygiene as he has pride he'd be the cleanest person in existence", Remus joked, "It's his own fault. He's dug himself into that hole."

Harry was about to mention that no, it probably wasn't his fault because he was too poor to afford proper hygiene, but he was angry enough from their fight to agree. Snape didn't exactly have a sunny disposition; his lack of friends could only be caused by his lack of friendliness.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Severus Snape was not in a good mood.

He'd left the courtyard soon after seeing Potter with his newfound mates. Trust that boy befriend anything that moved, he'd warned him very specifically about Remus. Fuming, he walked back to the Slytherin common room, glaring at any first year that dared step too close to him. He badly wanted to see Lily, but he knew that she would be with Alice and Amanda and Deepa. He wouldn't be able to see her until after dinner. So he'd made do with deciding to return to the Slytherin commons and study in peace by the fire.

He stepped into the dungeon; there were few Slytherins inside. Most of them were outside since it was afternoon. Avery was sitting on the sofa with a dark-haired girl sitting across his lap with her arms around his neck. She was listening to his every word with exaggerated emotion, clearly enjoying the act of _being with him _more than his actual company. Severus wrinkled his nose in disgust, almost everyone knew that Avery was in close correspondence to Lucius Malfoy, who had recently graduated and become a rumored Death Eater. That reduced every other Slytherin girl to trying to get on his good side in order to be recommended to Malfoy.

Thinking again, he decided that it would be better to study in his room. Mulciber and Augustus were bound to be out anyway, Mulciber had finally found some girl who could put up with him and Augustus would be outside fooling around with Adrian Pucey and Lucinda Greengrass.

Ignoring the look Avery gave him as he walked by, he continued down the hallway into his room, settling down on his bed. There was another reason his room was ideal, it was private enough for the project he had in mind.

"House elf!" He called.

A few seconds later, the house elf that had been assigned to the Slytherin dormitories appeared.

"Master Snape would be wise to remember that the name is Hokey, sir", the house elf informed him with a tone of distaste and forced obedience. The creatures had never like him, and he made sure not to call them often.

"Master Snape couldn't care less", he told the house elf firmly.

"What does master Snape want?" Hokey growled.

"Bring me a plate of sandwiches. Eight of them", he commanded, barely looking at the elf. Hokey nodded and disappeared.

A little while later, the plate appeared near his bed, filled with sandwiches. He took out his book to read while eating, and slowly forced himself to eat his way through every one of them.


	8. Déjà Vu

**Another chapter up. Thank you for all the reviews, have I mentioned how motivating ****they are? I'm really enjoying writing this and i'm glad you're enjoying reading it. **

**Also, in case any of you don't know, Nagini is the snake Harry released from the zoo when he was 11. So Voldemort hasn't made her into a Horcrux yet in this time period.**

**Chapter 8**

It was on the sixth day of their return to Hogwarts that Severus found himself forced to have a conversation with Marius Avery.

Of course, Avery had always considered him a part of their mock death eater group, and being his room mate, he somehow found it in him to wish Severus a good morning every day, but he usually completely ignored him.

Today was different. Severus had come back from classes and settled in his dorm room immediately, planning to demand another plate of sandwiches from the house elves as was his routine every evening. Only this time Avery was lazing on his bed, alone in the room. The blond boy was dressed in unbuttoned school robes, his tie handing loose and his outer robes abandoned on the bed poster.

He pushed himself up on his elbows and as Severus entered the room, "hello, Snape. I've been waiting for you."

Severus fought hard to keep a neutral tone in his voice. He didn't know what to expect, he'd only been officially recruited at the end of his fifth year, and so it was too early for that. He couldn't think of any other reason why Marius Avery would want to talk to him. Plus, the boy was looking at him with that stupid teasing smile.

"What did you wish to speak to me about, Avery?" He said neutrally.

"It has recently come t my attention that you have a little secret", the other boy was positively grinning, his pearly teeth on full display.

_I will not allow myself to give anything away, _Severus promised himself before speaking, "and what would this secret be?"

"Oh? You don't want to guess what I know?" Avery sat up and turned over in his bed, swinging his long legs behind him and he lay down on his stomach and stared straight at him, his face supported in his hands.

This was a typical trick. Get the victim to uncover their secret, or even look extremely worried, so that they would come up with some secret themselves. He wasn't about to fall into a trap that easily. It was also slightly relieving; the other boy probably didn't know anything and was just playing with him.

"You should know better than to expect me to fall for that, Avery. And anyway, I don't remember having any secrets that would interest you", he said, trying to sound good-natured. He was relying that he had no secrets, and on the off chance that Avery actually know something about him, he could get away with saying that he had assumed it wouldn't have interested him. The conversation was as relieving as it was tense; he had missed having intelligent conversation with another Slytherin.

"Don't be so shy, Snape. You know you can tell me anything", Avery stood up and walked over to him. Suddenly Severus found himself pressed back against a wall, with the other boy's hands resting on the wall, on either side of him. Avery was sporting a disturbing half- smile. It was not comfortable at all, but he managed to keep the neutral look on his face.

"You fancy someone."

So much for intelligent conversation.

Severus sighed and pushed one of his arms aside, escaping the hold. If Avery had ever suspected he fancied Lily he'd have noticed ages ago, the fact that he only brought it up know meant that he was just misreading some harmless observation. He went back to his bed and dug into his trunk, pulling out his Care of Magical Creatures book. Stupid subject always eluded him, better to study than waste his time on Marius Avery's stupid suspicions or he'd end up with an Exceeds Expectations.

Avery persisted, plopping on the bed beside him and folding his arms.

"Who is it Snape?"

"I don't fancy anyone", Severus replied tiredly. The bed was beginning to sag with both of their weights and Avery was sliding too close for comfort. He shifted further away from him until he was almost falling off the bed. Maybe be should have stayed in the common room after all.

The blond boy suddenly thrust his hand into Severus's hair, tangling his fingers into them before letting go, "of course you fancy someone, you've conditioned your hair. You've never given it a care in the world; it's always been so greasy. And you underestimate me, fellow Slytherin, you think I haven't noticed that you're trying to put on weight."

Oh. That was where this was coming from. It was probably better to deny it and insist that he'd just made a few new changes because he was growing up. Severus started to protest.

"Avery I don't -"

"I can help, you know. You're average at best but there's still improvement to be made. You could look slightly mysterious if you tried", Avery cut him off, looking him up and down thoughtfully, "yes, I could do with a little…project. Even if you don't fancy anyone in particular one would think you'd grow up and notice the female species one day, and I can help you get ready."

For a moment Severus hesitated. Avery was offering an alliance of sorts, a temporary friendship. Of course he's almost rather befriend Neville Longbottom…but this could turn out to be useful. After all, Avery's family was filled with death eaters; he could be the perfect infiltration point. He had hesitated to use Avery before because they'd only been on acquaintance terms, he'd have been stranded if he'd had to rely on him. He'd used Lucius, because the older boy had an interest in his potion skills. But this time, he could get closer to Avery instead…not to mention the 'help' he was offering was highly tempting, if only to prove himself to Lily.

"I…don't fancy anyone in particular", he admitted. This was as close as he was willing to get to accepting Avery's offer.

Luckily, the blond boy knew what he meant, and grinned, standing up and leaving Severus to reclaim his bed.

"Of course you don't. Well, this might just be fun; I was starting to get bored of Agnes anyway. I'm sure you know that professor Slughorn is having a party next Friday to celebrate the anniversary of the first brewing of Felix Felicis. You're to meet me this weekend to pay a visit to Hogsmeade", Avery instructed, "in the meanwhile, get rid of those sandwiches and start eating treacle tarts, everyone knows they've got enough calories to satiate a dragon."

With that, he walked calmly out of the room, hands clasped neatly behind him. Severus turned back to his Care of Magical Creatures book, hoping he could keep the situation under control.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Professor Merryweather has been strange recently, have you noticed? She's started to favor that Ravenclaw Girl, Agnes Monkleigh. Didn't look my way once through that last lesson", James Potter complained, sprawled on a sofa.

"Prongs she'll give you an Outstanding no matter what you do. Monkleigh's just a professor's pet, she is", Sirius Black replied. He was lying down on the sofa on his stomach, watching James and Remus with his face in his hands. Harry couldn't help but marvel at the fact that he was seeing a younger version of his godfather, and he was as good-looking as he had claimed he was.

Harry smiled at their banter. In the past week he'd gotten to know the Marauders well, and he learned that they were friendly to almost all the Gryffindors, they'd accepted Harry very quickly. The rest of the House had been equally trusting, it was quite relieving after the suspicious times Hogwarts had been through during the war, when the only people he truly trusted were Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Neville.

He'd come down to the common room after class in the evening to see the four Marauders lazing around near the fireplace. He sat down on a wooden chair, the meeting with Snape was in an hour, and he had time to spare. Not that he was looking forward to it; Snape hadn't said a single word to him since their previous meeting. During the few times they'd met in the hallway, the other boy had given him a glare that could freeze fire.

"Although it's true that Monkleigh's a great Duelist, James", he added in. He had defense against the dark arts with James and Sirius, and he'd seen the girl disarm them. James was an amazing duelist but he didn't come close to Harry's skill, and he was a little lacking compared to the Ravenclaw girl.

James Potter brightened immediately at his arrival, "say Harry, you still haven't given me that family tree I requested. Do you know something about us that I don't?" He teased. He'd been asking all week and Harry had always changed the subject, he didn't know a thing about Snape's family and he didn't want to say anything Snape would be forced to confirm.

"No, not really", Harry smiled, "it's just that I don't know my family tree very well. I'm a half-blood. My mother was a witch from the Prince family, and my father was a muggle."

"'Was'?" Remus noted.

"They…died in an accident. That's why I'm here, I had to move so that I could live with relatives", he explained.

The room suddenly looked bleaker. For a moment, there was silence, permeated with the occasional sorrowful glace spared for Harry.

"We're so sorry Harry-" Remus began.

"No, it's alright. It's been a few months and I know I can do this without them. There's no need to console me", he offered. Everybody had been trying to do so, and there was only so much sorrow he could fake successfully.

Then Sirius noticed something.

"Wait…you said your mother was from the Prince family? That sounds quite familiar, I remember my mother telling me that the Princes were a very old Pureblood family that's dwindled greatly, and that no one else bears the Prince name anymore", the dark hair boy asked. Being raised in a traditional pureblooded home, Harry did suspect that he would have heard of them.

"That's true", Harry told him, "and it's also probably familiar because Severus Snape's mother was a Prince. He's my cousin", it was better to have it out right away. Lily already knew the truth, and it would be suspicious if she noticed that he was hiding it. He hoped desperately that they wouldn't judge him by it, he was only just starting to feel at home and he still hadn't stopped crying himself to sleep every night over Hermione's death. It would be terrible if the only friends he'd made abandoned him now.

The other boys grimaced. James smiled widely, "thank god you don't seem to have too many of his genes. I don't know how you lucked out but you ended up gorgeous, if I do say so myself."

Harry smiled at his evident self-praise, "Well that was unexpected", he told them truthfully, "I though you guys might have something else to say about me being cousins with Snape."

James shook his head, and pulled Sirius closer, "see him? This is Sirius Black, one of my best mates. His family is filled with death eaters; he's the first Gryffindor to come out of them. We don't judge each other, Harry."

Sirius winced, "he's right. The Black family is pretty awful, you can't do much worse than that, even with some faint relation to Snivellus."

Harry grinned, before remembering the last conversation he had with Snape, "I've wanted to ask this for some time now but…why do you all hate Snape so much? Did he do something terrible?"

The other's looked at him quite blankly for a moment. It was the rather shy Peter Pettigrew that spoke first.

"He's going to become a death eater", he replied softly.

"Well, I know that. But he's not one, not yet. I mean, what did he do to make you know that he doesn't deserve another chance at all", Harry didn't know why he was hoping for a good answer so desperately, but he was. For some reason he was desperate to find out how horrible Snape really was, about the atrocities that he had committed with the same murderous look he'd had back at the Owlery. Things weren't turning out the way he had expected, and it was very disorienting. He'd expected Snape to have grown up in some stuck up pureblooded home with his magical parent, not in an old muggle home that didn't have proper furniture or food. He'd expected him to have a strict, rich parent like Lucius Malfoy, not a drunken bully of a father. And most of all, he'd expected Snape to have been friends with all the young death eaters, and openly dabbled in the dark arts. Why else could he have seen that memory of how the Marauders bullied him? He wanted to very for himself that the things Snape said about his father couldn't be right, and somehow that involved proving to himself that Snape really was a horrible git. Because then, James Potter was not a bully.

"We first met him on the train, on the way to our first year at Hogwarts", Sirius began, "at the time I didn't really know anyone, but I'd just met James because I sat next to him. I'm sure you know that all the Potters have been Gryffindors, but everybody expected me to be a Slytherin even though I never wanted to. So I started talking to James, and he was reassuring me. James always had a good heart", he ruffled his friend's hair, and "he convinced me that if I really wanted, I could be a Gryffindor Without that talk, I'd've probably ended up in Slytherin anyway because I was so convinced of it. In the cabin across from us was Snivellus", at this, he adopted a displeased look.

"He was sitting with Lily, Merlin knew why she bothering with him. And he was essentially corrupting her, telling her that Slytherin was the best house and that…oh how did he put it?"

"'We'll be in Slytherin together and one day we'll both become really powerful'", Remus quoted.

"Thanks Moony. Anyway, he was blathering on about that, even though he knew that the poor girl was a Muggleborn, there's no way Salazar Slytherin would've allowed a Muggleborn to be sorted into his house. Eventually James truthfully told Snivellus that he was being a bigoted git, and Snape replied that he had no time for worthless Gryffindors idiots. That's how it all started, anyway. Since then he's turned into the Slytherin he expected to be, picking on poor muggleborns with Avery and Mulciber when they let him join them", he finished.

"He's actually hurt muggleborn students?" Harry asked, a knot forming in his stomach.

The boys glances at each other and pondered the question before Remus answered, "not physically, no. And he's not really allowed to do anyone untoward like stealing their notes because he knows Avery and Mulciber won't cover for him, even death eater fans don't like greasy gits. But he doesn't like partnering with them in class and he's really nasty otherwise. We don't know why Lily still talks to him sometimes."

Harry still wasn't satisfied, "but it is true that he has no friends? I mean, isn't he friendly with some of the death eater fans?"

Remus looked playfully affronted, "do you doubt my word, Harry?"

"Not at all, I was just wondering", Harry replied.

"He doesn't", Peter spoke up, "it's because he's a half-blood. Slytherins are very bigoted, even Snivellus is, the hypocrite. Just yesterday I saw Augustus Rookwood bragging how he passed last year's pre-OWLS because he stole Snape's notes."

"Harry, people make their choices. I know it doesn't seem easy for you since he's your cousin, but you've got to accept that some people are too far gone to change", Remus explained, "Snape's made his choice, and we've made ours. That's as deep as it goes. You don't ever need to feel pressured to defend him Harry."

Harry smiled at that, pigs would fly before he actively defended Severus Snape, "that's good to know. Anyway, I have to go somewhere. It's been really nice talking with you."

As he left, he couldn't help but remember the memories of Snape being hung upside down half naked, and wondering whether he'd really done anything to deserve that.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Severus arrived in the Owlery early. As he opened the door and moved inside to sit down, the owls all seemed to recognize him; they backed away as far as they could from him. Cowardly birds.

He sighed and rested his face in his hands, because he knew he had overreacted last week. That stupid nickname wasn't supposed to bother him anymore. But there was still this horrible feeling of betrayal when it was said with someone who had Lily's eyes…

The feeling that came with the thought of Lily and James together again wasn't helping.

Truthfully, he knew how the boy felt. Psychologically, it was natural for a child to want a family, Potter may have had the Dursleys to run after him but he wanted true blood relations. Severus knew he had once felt the same, and he cringed with embarrassment on that thought. It was true that he'd tried to do the same with his own parents, although not so overtly. Their neighborhood hadn't always been so bad, and once in a while a couple in love would stroll by with a young child, and it had appealed to him so much that his seven-year-old self had tried to make it happen. In the end, they'd always ended up fighting anyway, and he'd given up after some time.

But he couldn't let Potter get in his way, this was his only second chance, and damn it he was going to be selfish for once. He was going to take Lily this time, because she was _his. _Lily would be better off with him anyway. During her relationship with James, so much had gone wrong. She was an intelligent witch with a hot temper, and he was just a daft quiddich player. Severus knew that he was the only one who could suit her need to intellectual conversation, and persevere through her mood swings. Unlike James, he was willing to accept all of her. She was _his _intelligent, beautiful, muggleborn witch, and he wasn't about to let James Potter steal her again.

A cautious creak signaled to him that the door was opening and he sat up straight, watching as Harry entered. He had abandoned his outer robes and tie in his room, and he walked in hesitantly. He took a seat on the bench opposite to him and sighed.

"There's something I think you should know in order to implement this plan", the golden boy finally spoke.

"Go on", Severus raised an eyebrow.

The boy sighed, "well…Dumbledore told me some things during my sixth year, and I'm not sure if he relayed this information to you -"

"If it's anything about the Dark Lord I assure you he did not", Severus snapped, "I was a spy, any information I knew was in danger. So get on with it". It bothered him that he was essentially telling Harry Dumbledore hadn't trusted him, but it was true. Both of them had known that Severus's Occlumency was far beyond anything the Dark Lord could detect, and if he couldn't create the fake memories soon enough, he would have loyally committed suicide. But in the end he hadn't been trusted with anything important.

"He showed me memories…of when he first met Tom Riddle. And during these discussions, he also told me how Voldemort was keeping himself immortal. He split his soul, so that if something happened to his mortal body he would still have the other pieces of his soul. He did this through dark constructs called Horcruxes", Harry finished quietly.

"Horcruxes", Severus thought, "yes, that would fit, he's clearly insane enough to make one. I know what a Horcrux essentially is, I remember reading about them in Lucius Malfoy's library. If he made a horcrux by splitting his soul, then his return would make sense. His body would have been destroyed by the rebound of the killing curse the night you were attacked, and he would have used Wormtail to help him occupy his Horcrux. Did you see him in the time before he was resurrected?"

"Yes", Harry said softly, "In my first year, you already know that he was possessing Quirill, but in my fourth year I had visions of what was happening to him. There was a vision where he was sitting in the Gaunt shack, and later on I saw his form when Pettigrew dropped him into the re-embodiment potion. He was in the form of a baby, a thin, monstrous one with a large head."

Severus wrinkled his nose, "that's just vile. I can guess what he did, he had some poor woman impregnated in order to possess her child, children don't have mental defenses before they are born, so it would not have resisted his possession."

Harry shivered, "it is vile."

That does make things more clear, but it's in the past now. Unless he's made another Horcrux of his already damaged soul, we don't have to worry about that", Severus finished.

Harry's voice was very quite now, "he did."

Severus raised one eyebrow; "you're saying that I have to destroy his Horcrux before we can destroy him? That certainly is inconvenient. Did the old man tell you where this Horcrux was bound?"

"He didn't just make one more. He made six horcruxes, his soul is split into seven parts", Harry blurted out.

For a moment there was silence.

"Seven?" Severus hissed, "That snake-faced maniac decided to spit his soul into seven pieces? How much of an idiot is he? It's the same as living off unicorn blood, a cursed half-life in which you can never experience full consciousness. Any sane wizard would rather die than be put in such a state" He was seething with something akin to anger.

Harry, for once, was happy that anger was not directed at him, and decided not to mention that Voldemort had indeed tried unicorn blood as well.

The Slytherin stood up and started pacing, glaring all the owls further into the corners of the room, "lovely, just splendid. You realize we have only three years left to _destroy six parts of the Dark Lord's soul?_"

"Why only three years?" Harry looked confused.

"Because, you blithering idiot, I will be marked when I leave Hogwarts, and he will be able to see what I am doing! If he catches me destroying a horcrux or meeting with you, it will be a disaster! The only option left is to destroy all the Horcruxes in the next three years and then worry about defeating the Dark Lord himself afterwards. What's worse is the fact that these horcruxes could be anything! The Dark Lord is devious, he could have hidden them in tin cans for all we know!"

Harry decided to intervene, "I know where most of the horcruxes are. They're a little hard to obtain, but we can work through them one at a time. It won't be too hard. I mean…it will…but I know where they are and how to destroy them. We can probably start with one of them right away."

"What are the objects which contain the horcruxes?" Severus demanded.

Harry though for a moment, "Tom Riddle's diary, Gaunt's ring, Slytherin's locket, Hufflepuff's cup, the diadem of Ravenclaw, and his snake, Nagini."

"The fool, trust him to choose famous artifacts that can be easily found", Severus commented, "but at this point, I don't think he has a pet snake yet. It could be that he only created Nagini's horcrux later on. Which of the horcruxes is closest right now?" He demanded.

"The diadem", Harry responded, "it's in the room of Hidden Things. When I was looking for it, I think the room sensed what I was searching for and presented it to me, it's going to be harder this time."

"And the next closest?"

"Hufflepuff's cup, though it's in the Lestrange's vault in Gringotts. The diary was the first one I destroyed but I don't know where that is", Harry replied.

Severus paced around the room again, deep in thought. He was staring down at the floor, his hair swinging forward. Finally, he spoke, "leave the diadem to me. Once I find it we can worry about how to destroy it. For now, I'm going to do some research on horcruxes. It may be helpful to learn exactly how they are made, and how the splitting of the soul in accomplished."

There was a moment of silence. Harry fidgeted in his seat.

Severus finally noticed that he wasn't leaving, "what is it? Ask."

Harry hesitated before asking, "did you…make any progress with the death eaters in your house?" He honestly didn't expect an answer, after how Snape had rejected him last time. But he wanted to be kept informed.

After a moment, he replied.

"Avery is convinced that I wish to join the Dark Lord, he had agreed to help me", he finally said, lying slightly, "I believe we may need his family's connection to the Dark Lord. I wish to know if the maker of a Horcrux feels it's destruction, and the best way to do that is to get direct information on his emotions at the time of destruction. Speaking of that…I have another task for you", he paused before continuing, "since you're close to Lily and the Marauders, try as best as you can to keep them away from Avery and the other future death eaters. Try not to let them see each other outside of class" The real reason he wanted it done was to keep Lily from seeing him with one of them, but he wasn't about to admit it.

"Now go back to your dorm and stop asking questions", he finished it with a glare, but it was not nearly as cutting as it usually was.

Harry leapt up and nodded, "I'll see you next week then." He opened the door and walked out with a slight spring in his step.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Professor Slughorn was not a very busy man.

As Potions professor at Hogwarts, he had the occasional task of marking essays and judging potions, but overall, he was quite free to do as he liked and throw parties for the students. However at this moment, it was almost midnight, and he as lounging in his reclining chair in silk pajamas with a nice romance novel. He did not expect the knock on his door at all.

He decided to ignore it, if it was just a student asking for help, they could come to him in the morning. Right now, he was sitting in a very comfortable position and doubted he'd be able to replicate it if he stood up. But after a good five minutes, the knocking was still just as persistent.

Sighing, he put his book aside and forced himself to stand up. A student would not be knocking so vigorously, it was probably one of his colleagues or – Merlin forbid – the headmaster. Doddering old fool always felt it necessary to drop by for tea sometimes. It would not do at all to keep him waiting, but he could always tell him he'd been taking a nice bath. He walked over to the door and wordlessly lowered his room wards. He clicked the lock open and pulled at the heavy wooden door.

Outside was not the headmaster. Instead, he was looking at one of his students. In particular, this student was Severus Snape, a young, quiet Slytherin boy with a serious face and very slender frame for someone his age. He'd liked the boy very much during his first three years; he was a promising student and an excellent brewer. He seemed to have an almost natural affinity for potions. He'd have earned a nice front spot on his cabinet of students if he hadn't clearly decided to turn the wrong way. It wasn't nice to judge, but at this point everybody knew the boy was going to follow the path Avery had chosen, and it would not do to have a picture of a young death eater sitting beside the others. Very bad publicity.

"Severus, my boy. How surprising to see you at, well, midnight. Unfortunately I'm feeling a bit tired at the moment, how would you like to come by later, say, tomorrow morning. I'll be in my office marking, we can speak then", he told the boy. He was about to close the door when Snape put his hand on the doorframe.

"Professor I need to speak with you about something", he said seriously, "it probably could wait, but I'd like it very much if I could speak with you now."

Poor boy, probably never got any sleep. Didn't look the least bit tired, he didn't. Slughorn decided reluctantly that he was slightly curious about why a student would come to him so late with something he didn't consider urgent.

"Alright then", he gave in, "come in, sit down."

The young boy followed him into the sitting room, gingerly seating himself on a couch opposite to him. In one corner, his conversation-hourglass had started to trickle down. Slughorn seated himself in his reading chair, unfortunately noting that he couldn't manage the comfortable position he'd been in before.

"What did you want to speak about? Is it related to your OWLs this year? Don't worry at all, my boy, you will pass. You are quite the brewer you know", he said with a slight laugh. The poor boy was sitting stiff as a rod in the comfy sofa; he'd probably need to do his best to calm his nerves.

"The thing I wanted to talk to you about…I'm not really sure if I should bring this up, but if I do, will you agree to be discreet about it?" He asked.

Slughorn raised his eyebrows in curiosity, now this was interesting. The hourglass began to spill its contents slightly faster.

"Of course, of course. You can ask me anything."

"Well, it's something that's not entirely legal…" the boy began.

A cold feeling overtook him, but he shook it off. Hopefully Severus was just researching some not-entirely-legal potions, Merlin knew there were many of those.

"Shouldn't you go to professor Merryweather instead?" He questioned.

"Well, I really don't think she'd know, sir. That's why I came to you instead", the boy paused momentarily, "but I need to know that you won't take this the wrong way. You see…it could be bad if this is…misinterpreted." Severus had a curious expression on his face, a mix of guilt and hesitation.

The cold feeling grew until it reached the tips of his toes, but he tried to ignore it. Horace Slughorn was a rather curious man, and curiosity came with its natural prices after all. He clasped his hands in front of him, "there is the matter of academic integrity that I have to consider, but by all means, go on. I'll see if I can answer"

There was a moment of silence before the boy continued.

"Sir, I was researching something recently, and I came across something that I didn't know much about. So I tried to search for it, but I couldn't find anything on the topic. So I thought I'd ask you instead."

"Well, the library of Hogwarts surely contains more information that I do, but go on", Slughorn said in good nature, trying the hide the feeling of déjà vu that currently plagued him. The hourglass was literally spilling through.

"Sir I was wondering if you could tell me anything about…horcruxes."

The déjà vu rushed into him. Slughorn's eyes widened, and he clenched his hands on the sides of his armchair. That question…that cursed question that he had encountered so many years ago…muttered again by yet another student. His eyes filled with rage and he didn't hide it as he looked on at Severus Snape, who suddenly looked frightened. He would _not _make the same mistake again, this time he would deal with it properly.

He pushed himself off his chair and walked over to the boy, grabbing one of his arms and pulling him up.

"Sir -" the student began.

"You're coming with me", Slughorn replied firmly.

He dragged Severus Snape out of the room and into the cold dungeon corridor, walking quickly as he pulled the protesting student with him.

"Professor-professor Slughorn where are you taking me?" The boy asked with slight fear in his eyes.

He didn't reply to the question, only walking faster as he climbed the stairway and exited the dungeon. The entire castle seemed to sense his seriousness, once he was up all the stairways aligned for him. Severus was now actively trying to free himself from the firm, almost bruising grasp on his upper arm but Slughorn did not let go.

They kept walking until they reached a very familiar stone gargoyle.

"Candy puffs", Slughorn recited quietly. The gargoyle turned as it moved aside. Snape stopped trying to free himself when he realized where they were going, and allowed himself to be dragged up the spiral staircase into the headmaster's office.

It was empty when they reached it, the room was dim and Fawkes was sleeping silently on his rod. It was late, and the headmaster had clearly gone to bed.

"Professor maybe we should come back later." Severus suggested.

"Albus Dumbledore!" Slughorn bellowed loudly, echoing through the quiet room.

After a moment the chandeliers on the ceiling and the candles surrounding the room were lit. The back door opened to reveal the headmaster of Hogwarts, dressed in starry blue sleeping robes.

"Why hello Slughorn and…Severus Snape, is it? To what do I owe this visit? Slightly late for chit-chat isn't it?" He walked over to his desk and seated himself, eyes twinkling.

"Do sit down. Would you like a lemon drop? It's probably too late for tea."

Slughorn didn't bother to sit. Instead he thrust Severus forward, the boy stumbled before regaining his composure.

"I'm not going to make the same mistake again, Albus. This boy has been asking after Horcruxes, I'll let you deal with him as you see fit", after saying that, he turned on his heel and stormed out of the office, silk pajamas billowing behind him.

Severus cautiously took a seat, hoping he would be able to clear things up, "good evening professor", he said hesitantly. Albus was not smiling anymore.

"I think I'll offer that tea after all", the twinkle was gone from his eyes.


	9. The Slug Club

**Wow, lots of reviews! You're all awesome, and I'm glad you liked the cliffhanger, k****eep up the feedback. I was informed by a few reviewers (thanks Rumour of an Alchemist and PrettyKitty126!) that Nagini is actually NOT the snake Harry released, but thankfully it's horcrux that still wasn't made at this point so it won't have an impact on the storyline. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!**

**Chapter 9**

Severus sipped slowly at the tea. From his experience as Dumbledore's spy, he knew very well that it was tainted with a Calming Drought, and he considered declining. However, Albus did not know that he knew about it, and it would only seem rude not to drink it.

He let his inner panic show clearly on his face as he watched the older man, it would be better to appear as just another nervous student. He felt the quiet probing of the headmaster's Legilimency against the edges of his mind, and resisted it slightly. It would be too suspicious if he let the man into his mind, most people unknowing had at least some default defense against mental attacks and it would look too suspicious if his mind was wide open.

"So Severus, how are your classes coming along?" The old man started. Severus had known him long enough to see that he was itching to ask about the Horcruxes, but he held himself back. He had to keep up appearances after all. He had to soothe the student's nerves so that they would open up before delving into the questioning.

"They're fine, professor", he replied nervously, adding an extra quiver into his voice for good measure.

"Ah yes, I've heard that you are quite the student. Professor Slughorn does not hesitate to talk about your potential."

That was a lie; Slughorn did not care much for his potential. The man had given up on him as soon as he suspected he was following a darker path.

"I try, sir", he answered carefully.

"That's good, Severus. Knowledge is a skill, a very important one. But you need to know that some knowledge can only be gained after previous wisdom", the old man was clearly trying to be subtle. A Gryffindor trying to be subtle…ha. Not in a century.

"I know, sir", he replied again. When would the doddering old fool just get to the point? The question slowly faded as he felt the effects of the Calming Drought set in. He relaxed in his seat, not bothering to hide the change. It would only be beneficial if the headmaster thought he was fully relaxed.

"I know that you are probably waiting for me to get to the point, but I will tell you a short story first", Dumbledore paused before continuing, "A long time ago, fifty years maybe, my memory is growing timeless, there was another boy who attended Hogwarts. He was a very promising young boy, and he was sorted into the house of Slytherin."

Severus sat straight up in his chair, unbelieving of what the headmaster was telling him. Seventeen years, he had spied for the man, and not once did he try to tell him the information that he was about to entrust with who he thought was an unknown young boy. He felt almost violated. He forced himself to swallow his indignation and listen.

"His name was Tom Marvolo Riddle, I'm not sure whether you've heard of him. Anyway, he did have Slughorn for a Potion's professor, as the man has been here at Hogwarts for a rather long time. One day, during his sixth year, he came to Slughorn with a question."

Severus held his breath. Was the old fool really going to entrust a student with the knowledge of the Dark Lord's relations with the Horcruxes? Was he really so stupid?

"He asked about a particular type of Dark Magic. Now I'm not going to tell you what he asked after, but it was an absolutely abominable piece of magic. Slughorn, in a bout of momentary carelessness, decided to tell him about the procedure he had asked after", he paused again, "two years later, that young boy had taken on a very different name. He began to call himself Lord Voldemort."

He sighed mentally, punishing himself for assuming the headmaster to be a fool. Of course he wasn't about to tell a fifteen-year-old student how the Dark Lord had become almost immortal, the very idea was unthinkable.

Dumbledore was looking at him strangely, "the reason I told you this is to make you aware that Dark Magic can captivate its users. It can lure them in, young, intelligent, information seeking witches and wizards. It can promise them power and fortune, and ultimately, it can ruin them. Do you understand me, Severus?"

"Yes sir", he replied sullenly. Slughorn's actions made much more sense now. He had gone to the Potion's Master because he was a pushover, always doting on students who wished to learn more. He would have easily given him information on any illegal, deadly potion without thinking twice, he never expected him to get so angry on Horcruxes. The reason he had gotten so angry was that he knew the Dark Lord had done the same. As he had said, he didn't want to make the same mistake twice. He'd only wanted to make sure that he wouldn't be blamed for the rise of another Dark Wizard.

In the meanwhile, he had also been thinking of a plan. There were no books on Horcruxes in the Hogwarts library, or in any of the acceptable bookstores. The only place he could have found a book on dark magic was in the private stores of an older, pureblood family. All dark magic had been legally used before it was outlawed, it was likely that any of the pureblood families who's lines ran back far enough would have books on practices that were now illegal. He momentarily considered using the Malfoys, Lucius had never hesitated to allow him into the Manor's libraries, but he remembered that he was not as close to the Malfoys yet, he would only befriend Lucius in his sixth year, when the blond pureblood became Head Boy. But there was another pureblooded family he could use very easily.

"Severus, answer me truthfully. Where did you find information on Horcruxes", the old man was looking at him seriously.

"During the summer, my father was cleaning out my mother's things. She died a few years ago so he wanted to make space, and he's a muggle so he didn't have any use for her things. I looked through them and found a few books that looked interesting, so I read them before letting my father throw them away", he said, semi-truthfully. It was true that his father had thrown out all of his mother's things, but he had never bothered to look through them.

"And what was the name of the book in which you encountered the term 'Horcrux'?" Dumbledore questioned.

Severus pretended to think about it. The only book in existence that delivered the full details on how to make a Horcrux was 'The Darkest Magiks', but it would look too suspicious if he professed to taking an interest in a book with a title like that. He would be openly admitting that he had been interested in the dark arts, and Dumbledore would obviously be concerned enough to Obliviate him as to take away the information. The only other book that mentioned them was 'Magic before the Modern Age', a book written a few hundred years ago that just barely mentioned Horcruxes in a list of things which were outlawed during the century.

"It was a book called 'Magic before the Modern Age', professor. It momentarily mentioned things such as Horcruxes and Full Blood Warding Spells that were outlawed, and while I found lots of information about the ancient blood warding spells, I did not find anything on Horcruxes so I thought I might ask Professor Slughorn. I do not intend to perform any kind of Dark Magic sir. I will not ask after it again", he finished. Hopefully that would keep the old fool at bay. He knew very well that the reason he was still here was because he was a Slytherin, if he had been a Gryffindor, Dumbledore would have simply patted him upon the head and told him to never mention it again.

"And what was your mother's name?" He questioned.

"Eileen Prince, sir." He replied.

"I see. Where is this book now?"

"I suspect my father has burned it", he answered. That was probably the truth.

The headmaster raised an eyebrow, "why did he burn it?"

"He does not like things which come from Magical society, sir", he bit his lip. This was far more than he had intended to give away, but it had to be done if he didn't want to reveal that he was from the future. He felt the probing against his mind again, this time it was slightly harder. No one who was not an Occlumens would feel it, but his or her surface thoughts would be laid bare, and Dumbledore knew what he was supposed to be thinking o right then.

Swallowing his pride, he brought up the memory of his father throwing all his mother's things into the fire in the backyard. He had no time to doctor a memory of him actually reading the book, but there was a memory close enough that he could use. He allowed Dumbledore to watch it.

In went the few pieces of clothing his mother had owned, for Tobias Snape had treated her the same way he treated his son. In went a potions kit and a long, slender wand. Papers, probably letters that she had kept from her childhood, followed the wand. After that he began throwing in the books. Dozens of books, his mother had had nothing to do but read. Old books that she had salvaged from her school years. He allowed Dumbledore to peruse the memory, verifying his words. Any other student would think the headmaster was only deep in thought for a few seconds, so Severus kept an innocent expression on his face.

A few seconds later, the headmaster's eyes were filled with pity. Damn it, he felt like kicking the old man. Pity did not mean that he was going to try to save him, pity meant that he had accepted that the fate of the boy before him was already set, strengthened by a unloving childhood. He bit his lip harder.

"Well then, do not search for any more information on Horcruxes, you will regret it if you do. It is not pleasant reading material. I will inform Professor Slughorn on this misunderstanding", Dumbledore stood from his desk, "and you shouldn't be out so late at night, sleep is essential to health, you know. I myself cannot manage without at least ten hours of it every night. While I go back to doing so, you may return to your dormitory. If you see Flitch on he way, tell him you were meeting with me and allow him to escort you. Goodnight, Severus."

"Goodnight, Professor Dumbledore", he said politely as he stood up, trying to piece together his broken dignity. He waited until the headmaster had disappeared before silently leaving the office.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The next day passed quietly, Severus stayed locked up in his room with his Arithmancy homework. When he was younger, he'd never been hesitant to go around the castle on his own, pride was something he could not afford. But now…now that he had returned to his younger self it was just humiliating. Watching other young people walk around with their friends, while he was forced to stay by himself. Better to just stay in his room.

He sighed and stared at the Vector Calculus practice problems in front of him, he'd progressed so far in his boredom that he'd covered half the material in the course already. He absentmindedly flipped his quill in his hand and stared at the clock; it was six o'clock on a Sunday evening. What he really wanted to do was see Lily.

With new resolve, he closed his books and slid them into his old book bag, swinging it around his shoulders. At this point Lily would have already left her friends to go study in the library. He'd never interrupted her while studying before, but he was sure he could make it up to her. He had a surprise, after all. He left his room and walked down to the Slytherin commons.

The large room was surprisingly empty. A few first years who did not know their way around the castle were sitting in one corner studying, but apart from that there was only Avery, Rookwood, and Lucinda Greengrass. He narrowed his eyes when she turned to see him. The girl was as beautiful as her future daughter, Daphne, but he clearly remembered seeing her in a very amorous position with Evan Rosier during their fourth year. They had broken up now, but every time he looked at her his mind brought back images of her nude. He tried to make himself inconspicuous and walk straight by them. The sooner he was able to see Lily, the better.

"Hey Severus. I can call you Severus, can't I?" Avery spoke up.

Severus inwardly groaned, but kept the infuriated expression off his face. Just lovely, he was going to be delayed by small talk.

"Of course", he said reluctantly.

"Lovely, then I'm Marius to you. How was your day of excessive homework?" Avery teased. Lucinda smiled up at him cheekily.

"Just fine. I covered some of the extra credit work in order to bypass it when it is issued. How was your day?" He asked.

"Equally nice, I suppose. Are you taking my advice?" The blond boy smirked.

Severus forced himself to keep an embarrassed expression off his face. It was bad enough that Avery knew he was trying to improve his appearance; he didn't need Augustus and Lucinda teasing him about it as well.

"Yes I am", it was true. He'd eaten an entire plate of treacle tarts in place of his sandwiches. It had been pure torture and only the thought of Lily had kept him from vomiting all over his bed.

"Oh? What's this advice?" Lucinda asked sweetly. Severus glared and tried desperately to forget the mental picture of her in the lacy green bra. Bloody teenage hormones. Throughout the years he's just about managed to turn himself asexual, and now he was stuck in a fifteen-year-old body again.

"It's our little secret. Right Severus?" Avery flashed him a smile.

"I suppose", he said grudgingly. He was thankful that the boy had spared him the embarrassment. He'd been dealing with entirely too much of that emotion recently.

"Now that's not fair", Lucinda pouted.

"Anyway, Severus", Avery began, "Lucy fears that her marks in Potions are dropping. Brilliant as she is", he flashed her a smile, "she doesn't seem to understand it. You'll teach her won't you?"

Severus tried hard to keep the expression of shock off his face. Lucinda? Lucinda Greengrass? Avery was trying to 'practice' on him with Lucinda Greengrass of all people? How on earth was he supposed to act now? He knew he'd never be able to see any other girl but Lily…

"Fine. I'll tutor you", he gave in reluctantly. Damn Avery and his meddling. He had to agree, if he didn't he'd lose the tentative truce that had just formed between them.

Lucinda gave him a bright smile, "Thanks so much, Severus. I'll see you here tomorrow after classes. I know just the place we can work."

Luckily, the girl did not seem interested in him. There was no way a Greengrass would be interested in him anyway, and he liked it that way. The girl actually seemed interested in receiving tutoring. He supposed he could do that. He hurried out of the common room and took the nearest stairway up out of the dungeons.

Once he was one the first floor, he walked through the halls with his head down, in case he ran into any Marauders. He'd been avoiding them like the plague since the beginning of school. Luckily the only encounter he'd had with them had been the moment on the train. He pushed his way through crowds of students walking to and fro and finally reached the large, open doors of the library.

The place had always been a sort of haven for him. The independent study tables assured that he never needed to fell self-conscious about being by himself, and reading had been one of his favorite pastimes. It was one of the few similarities that he shared with Lily; he'd been absolutely delighted to find out that she'd liked to read as much as he did. He looked around the place before he found Lily at one of the group tables, accompanied by Alice and Deepa. He turned to walk into one of the book aisles and waited until her friends left.

"…to Hogsmeade next weekend Lily. You've got to give in sometimes you know, he won't wait forever", Alice was saying.

"Actually, I don't think you should accept. He's can be so arrogant sometimes, thinks he can get any girl he wants. It's good to push him back in his place", Deepa added. The tall Indian girl raised one eyebrow, "he's not as interesting as everyone thinks he is. When he took me to Hogsmeade last year all he did was talk about quidditch."

"But Lily I think he really likes you", Alice interjected, "You should at least give him a chance."

Lily finally looked up from her books, tired of ignoring them for so long, "girls, please. I'm not going out with James Potter, leave it alone."

"That's the spirit Lily!" Deepa smiled at her. Severus mentally cheered the girl on.

"Anyway, we're going to head back to our rooms. Don't study too late ok?" Alice patted the red headed girl on the shoulder and Lily smiled back, "I won't. See you in class."

Alice and Deepa walked away together and Lily turned back to her books. She was almost as studious as Severus was, and she dedicated an hour of her time every evening to extra revision. After making sure that she was not going to receive any new visitors, Severus walked out of the book aisle and up to her.

"Evening, Lily", he sat down in the chair opposite to her.

Lily looked up from her work to give him a momentary smile, "evening, Sev", she looked back down at her work, assuming he was there to study silently with her.

Severus cleared his throat a little, "Lily do you mind…skipping over your review session today? I've found something I'd like you to see." It was true, he had found something. Not recently. In fact he'd found it when he was roaming around the grounds as a professor, but he'd always thought it would be nice to show her.

Lily, who wasn't used to him initiating anything, looked up curiously, "I have to admit you've got my curiosity…but I think Potions is going to trouble me this year."

"You're one of the best students in the year, Lily", he smiled at her tentatively, "you'll make it through. You know you can always ask me for help studying."

"Now that's true", Lily gave her books one last glance before closing them, "alright then, I'll take you up on your offer. Where are we going to see this thing you've found?"

Severus stood up, waiting for Lily to pack her things into her book bag, "you'll see. Follow me", he walked out of the library. She followed him down the hall and into the West Wing. He then led them out of the west entrance.

"Sev we _are _going to be back in time for curfew right?" Lily asked hesitantly. They'd spent one too many evenings sneaking through halls and dodging Filtch.

"It won't take an hour", Severus rolled his eyes. He then thought of something.

"Lily, did you say you were having trouble with Potions?"

"Yes, I've got a bad memory, so I'm no good at memorizing what's in the books. And my intuitive way doesn't work with the more complicated potions", she bit her lip, looking worried, "I've really wanted to make Slughorn's wall ever since he told us that all his best students end up there."

"Well, you see…some of my housemates have talked me into tutoring Lucinda Greengrass in Potions. And knowing her, she'll bring all her academically challenged friends with her as well. I was thinking that maybe you can help me tutor them. Teaching is said to be one of the best ways to learn. It's just…if you want to…sometimes", he finished hesitantly.

Lily beamed at him, "Oh Sev I'm proud of you, agreeing to help students in need. But I think there may be some problems between me and…Lucinda Greengrass…not to mention the rest of your 'housemates'."

"If she says anything derogatory I'll kick her out. No need to worry", he assured her. He had every intention of backing those words up, "and anyway, every one knows you're good at Potions. She won't do anything against you if you're helping her, a Slytherin doesn't look a gift horse in the mouth."

Lily giggled, "That may not be the best thing to do, but thank you. I'll consider it when we next come across a potion that I need practice with. How did you become a potential tutor anyway? Seems unlikely that you would offer."

They walked through the grounds, the green forest by the lake was a few minutes away, and some students were still outside flying charmed kites. Severus thought about lying, but he decided that the truth was probably better.

"Avery asked me to. It would have seemed extremely rude to refuse, and I didn't have an excuses to make", he admitted. He could feel Lily tense up beside him.

"Avery? I though you were going to try this year…"

He turned to face her, "I am, Lily, I am. It's just that it can't be sudden or anything, Slytherin house is very closely knit, you see. Not in the way the other houses are knit, it's just that we're expected to stay close to each other for stupid house pride reasons." He hoped desperately that she would understand.

"You know you could just talk to people from other-"

"Who?" He interrupted. Severus hated having to raise his voice even a little with her but this was important. She needed to understand.

"I've known you since we were young Lily, but almost everyone makes their first acquaintances at Hogwarts, after they are sorted. It's not like I haven't tried, there are many Ravenclaws especially that I respect, and that girl Deepa Patel seems to have a head on her shoulders as well. But who in their right minds would talk to a Slytherin?"

"Severus-", she stopped walking to watch him, unused to him being anything but completely understanding with her.

Severus knew what he was doing. This time, he wanted an equal relationship with Lily, and he would bloody well make her recognize him for once.

"You know it's true. The houses segregate Slytherins. The Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws get along just bloody fine, but us Slytherins are in our own world here. Why do you think so many Slytherins turn to the dark arts?" He pulled her behind a tree in order to speak openly without anyone hearing.

"They turn to the dark arts because they want to be recognized, Lily. It's taken me a while to realize this, and it's one of the reason why I've decided to leave that path. The Slytherins you meet turn to the Dark Lord because there's no one else that's willing to accept them-"

"-Oh Sev you call him 'the Dark Lord'-"

"Listen. Please don't be angry with me because you see me with Avery or Augustus or anyone else that I'm forced to room with, I have to keep up appearances and Merlin knows that needs fixing", he finished the rant silently. After a moment of silence he looked back into Lily's eyes searchingly. He'd tried his best to convey the truth, but if she took it the wrong way…

"Fine."

Lily finally looked up, "fine, I won't yell at you if I see you with them. But Sev I hope you know that people have already made certain decisions and I don't agree with them."

She had a look of pure frustration in her green eyes, narrowed with suspicion. Almost like an angry lioness, a beautiful angry lioness. He inwardly smiled; he'd known her long enough to understand that this meant she was backing off.

"Thank you. Now we still haven't seen what I wanted to show you, but it should be the perfect time now", he boldly took her hand like she'd done so many time when they were younger, and pulled her towards the forest by the lake. The kite-flyers had just reeled in their toys and the couples snogging behind the tress would be gone, the timing was perfect.

"You have to make sure we get back before curfew ok?" She insisted. He smiled and nodded, still leading her on into the clearing between trees he was so familiar with.

"Sev…the student grounds ended two minutes ago…" She mentioned uncertainly.

"I know, but I've been here before often. There's nothing dangerous here, it's not like the Forbidden Forest", he had been there almost every week when he'd first become a Hogwarts teacher. If only to have a moment of silence away from his colleagues and students while he read the latest issue of a Potions Monthly.

They walked into the clearing, and Severus gestured to Lily to sit down on patch of grass by a tree. She did so uncertainly, the last time they'd been this alone together had been in their third year. He sat down on the rock beside her.

"Now we just wait for fifteen minutes, and then we can run back in time to make curfew", he stated, watching the sky.

"What did you want to show me?" Lily asked curiously, adjusting herself on the cold ground, "there's nothing here."

"Well, you know that Hogwarts has through warding, don't you?"

"Yes, it was in Hogwarts, A History", she said warily, looking up at the sky and trying to see what he seemed to be watching.

"Describe for me the properties of wards", he instructed.

"Really Sev-"

"Go on."

She sighed, "they are magically barriers that surround areas of land, and are maintained by a warder who owns the land. In the case of the Hogwarts wards, that would be Professor Dumbledore. Their strength depends on the wizard who maintains them, but an area such as Hogwarts has been warded for so long that it's almost natural. Hogwarts, A History writes that Hogwarts is semi-conscious, which means that it takes over most of it's own security with help from the headmaster. They're usually invisible, and I don't' see how any of this is relevant."

"Well, I've noticed something", Severus began, "a long while ago, I noticed that if the sun hits at just the right angle, you can see some of the magic of the wards. And our human eyes see powerful magic in the same way we see light, in colors. So if you come at just the right time…look", he pointed to a portion of the sky.

For a moment nothing happened and Lily looked perplexed. And then she saw it. Her eyes widened as she saw a faint, almost imperceptible hint of rainbow color just ahead at the curve of the wards. No one who hadn't been looking specifically would have seen it.

"Sev that's brilliant. Does everyone else know about this?" She asked.

"No. If you want you can tell them you deduced it, I'll help you write a paper on it", he answered semi-humorously, watching the faint glimmering streak of color.

"How did you figure this out?"

"I discovered it by accident while watching a sunset, and then used a bit of Muggle science to put together why it happened", he said, pleased with having impressed her.

"I always knew you were a genius. How did you learn muggle physics? We stopped going to muggle school before they started teaching anything about light."

"I taught myself by reading over the summer", he told her truthfully. Of course, at fifteen he hadn't given a damn about muggle science, but sometimes in his summers after becoming a teacher at Hogwarts he would occasionally visit a library in the same city as his house at Spinner's End. Wizarding science, which consisted mostly of Potions, was terribly lacking.

"You have to teach me once the year is over. I find it a little weird that muggles have been able to go to the moon while Wizarding society barely knows what the moon is made of", she sighed, still watching the colors.

"Right, they – our Divination professor, I mean – still think they can use it to predict our love lives", he commented back, "anyway, it's getting a little darker, we should head back."

"Of course", Lily stood up and brushed herself off, then turned around, "do I have any grass on me?"

Severus awkwardly scanned her back down to her feet, "no, it's fine", he murmured.

She gave herself another brush down and turned around to smile at him, "thanks for showing me this, I was starting to think you were no fun anymore."

"Oh…sorry, I suppose I wasn't", he agreed hesitantly. She only smiled wider.

"And now that I now you can, you know that you have to make up for it. I expect entertainment quite often, you know", she leapt over a log in their way. Severus smiled inwardly. The day was ending much better than it had started out, and Lily was back to her hot-tempered, demanding, darling self.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"…Mr. Potter – no not you James, the other one – are you listening?"

Harry leapt to attention at Slughorn's words, "sorry sir, I just dazed off a little. I'm listening."

"Good", Slughorn gave him a reproaching look, "I'd hate to think my teaching was that boring. I suggest you stock up on your sleep in Professor Vector's class. Potions is a rather hands-on thing, you see.

Some of the other students laughed a bit at the comment and Harry managed a watery smile before returning to his thoughts as Slughorn went on with his lecture. It had been a week since his last meeting with Snape, which meant he'd have to go see him again tonight. For some reason the boy in question was receiving a few deadly glares from their Potion's professor, and he planned to question that.

"…to finish your brew of Pepper-up in tomorrow's class, I've put a stasis on them for now. For homework, please finish the reading and do the questions in page thirty-four in your textbook. I'd like a few students to stay behind, including Mr. Potter – it's not you this time either, James –, Miss Evans, Mr. Snape, Miss Monkleigh, Mr. Rosier, and Miss Patel. The rest of you are dismissed."

Harry jerked awake again at the sound of his name. He looked up to see the rest of the students leaving the class, and stood up to make his way to Slughorn's table. The rest of the students who Slughorn had mentioned – including Snape – were already standing around his desk.

"Well, it's that time of year again", Slughorn began with a smile, "Four hundred years ago, a very intelligent wizard first discovered the brewing instructions for my all-time favorite Potion. Can any of you guess what this Potion is?"

"Felix Felicis, sir", Deepa responded from where she was leaning against a cabinet with her arms crossed. The same thing happened every year, practically every student in the school knew the answer to that question.

"Very good Miss Patel. Yes, the Potion he brewed was Felix Felicis, and the coming Tuesday is the anniversary of it's very first brewing. And, since you all know me so well, can anyone guess what will be happening this Tuesday?" He sat back in his chair looking smug.

Harry gave everyone around him confused looks, but they all seemed to know what was happening. He, on the other hand, was clueless.

"You'll be throwing an evening party, sir", Evan Rosier replied with polite interest.

"Correct again. As I do every year, I will be throwing a party to begin the year's Slug Club", he looked around before noticing Harry standing, a very confused expression on his face, "Oh, Mr. Potter I almost forgot that you are new here. Well I've been watching you for the past week and it seems that you are rather skilled at Potions for your level. I believe you, like all the others gathered here, may have a natural affinity for Potions."

Harry's eyebrows went up at the sudden praise; Potions had always been one of his worst subjects. Then he suddenly realized that it had nothing to do with natural affinity, he'd already started NEWT level potions, not to mention he'd finished reading Snape's old textbook with all the shortcuts. Of course he'd come across as a skilled Potioneer in a fifth year Potions class.

"Thank you, sir", he replied hesitantly. Snape was watching him curiously.

"As such, I would like to offer you a position on my elite student Potion's club, I like to call it the Slug Club. I issue invitations to the best Potions students in each of my classes. It's a bi-monthly gathering for students interested in Potions, and it involves academic discussion and a friendly atmosphere. I always begin the year's club with a small party on the Anniversary of the discovery of Felix Felicis. Would you be interested in joining?"

Harry stood still in thought. The other students were all watching him. A Potions Club? What would that entail? He remembered the Slug Club that he'd been invited to in his sixth year, but that was more of a social gathering than an academic club. But he'd said it would involve academic discussion…but he didn't know anything about Potions outside of class! Both Lily and Snape were going to be there and he was vaguely acquainted with Deepa, so he didn't think he would feel left out, but it seemed like a rather big commitment. Surely he wasn't going to be expected to become a Potions master if he joined the club? Or do private research? He glanced around the room before his eyes settled on Snape. The dark haired boy gave him a slight nod.

"I'd be honored, sir", he replied. He decided to question Snape on it later on.

"Well then that's brilliant. I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself very much. Come to my office at six in the evening, and bring a friend with you", he gave Harry a smile before turned to the rest of the students, "well, I'll see you on Tuesday."

As they walked out of the room, Harry pulled the sleeve of Snape's robes, ignoring how the other boy instantly jerked his arm back towards him.

"What is this club about? Is it the same as the Slug Club held in my sixth year? Slughorn seemed quite a bit more serious about it this time, in sixth year it was all ice-cream and random gossip", he whispered as they made their way to the main hall.

"It _is _ice-cream and chit-chat", Snape hissed, "nothing different. The old lodger just wants to have a nice little group of prize students that he can boast about. However, I will require you to get close to him", he said on a lower note.

"Why?" Harry asked back.

"I'll tell you later."

They walked into the hallway and headed for the staircases. At this point, Lily caught up with them.

"Congratulations on making the Slug Club Harry. You'll like it, the ice-cream is heavenly", she remarked, patting him on the shoulder, "Sev are you busy this weekend?"

Before Severus could answer, he felt an increase of tension. He looked sideways to see that Harry had frozen up, his fists clenched tightly. He was barely breathing. Lily had noticed too. She nudged his arm, "Harry are you alright?"

Severus looked up to see that there was a murderous expression on the boy's face, which was curiously not aimed at him. He looked in the same direction in which Harry was looking, and suddenly felt himself blanche.

In the corridor, talking to Mulciber was the clearly recognizable, younger version of Amycus Carrow.


	10. A Place to Hide

**Wow...two weeks. School starts and life flys by. Longer chapter today, purely to appease. Enjoy reading, and turn your thoughts into reviews!**

**Chapter 10**

Severus sensed the anger in him, and immediately grasped his arm hard, squeezing tight enough to bruise. He had to stop this, all the students were walking around heading back to their dormitories, and if he tried anything now it would make a scene. Knowing Potter, it would make a BIG scene. He knew well enough that the boy still missed his muggleborn lover, and seeing the man – boy – who had killed her was bound to be traumatic.

"Potter, listen to me", he started talking slowly, as if talking to a child. It was horribly embarrassing because he looked crazy and Lily was standing by, but if he could only talk him out of it before something happened…

"Potter this is not the time. That's not him. Listen, that's not him and you are going to slowly turn around…Granger would not want you to act violently."

The reminder of the Granger girl seemed to be more of a trigger than anything. The boy started walking forward. Severus, in all his scrawny glory, could not muster the strength to stop him from moving. At first, he only took slow steps forward, eyes glimmering with hate. From behind them, Lily gave them a confused look.

"Sev, Harry, what's happening? Who's Granger?" She reached a hand out to Harry but he ignored her.

"Harry Potter, stop, this instant!" Severus raised his voice, deciding to ignore the fact that there were students around. Heads turned to watch the strange scene. He lowered his voice again, "listen, I'll allow you to kill him, I promise. But we need to have a talk first…if you still want to afterwards you can go ahead. I'll even help, I know lots of good hexes", he pleaded. The boy paid him no attention.

"It's not him! It's not him, Potter! Calm yourself!" He turned to all out yelling. Harry leaned over and roughly pushed him away, forcing him to let go of his arm. He walked closer to Amycus Carrow, who was currently surrounded by two other Slytherins. When Carrow noticed the Gryffindor boy headed towards him, he started.

"What do you want Gryffindork?" He sneered. The look on his face wasn't helping matters, he had the signature cruel smile of Amycus Carrow, the same smile he had plastered across his face while the green light of his wand had shot towards Hermione Granger…

This set him off. Potter reacted with speed trained into him from years of dueling dark wizards, pulling his wand out of the pocket of his robes and pointing it straight at his face. Carrow started to look uneasy and his two companions rushed away from him. Fortunately, he wasn't the only one with practice fighting; Severus took one look at the situation ad thrust himself between Potter and Carrow.

"Potter! Stop this instant!", he yelled.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled back.

"Protego", Severus whipped his wand out of his book bag and pointed it back, casting the protection spell that nullified the disarmer.

Now many heads were turned to watch them, students in the hall had gone silent watching the fight. There were still no teachers around..

"Move, Snape! Get out of the way or I won't be responsible for anything that happens to you! Expelliarmus!"

"Protego! Calm down Potter it's not him! He hasn't done anything!" he didn't move, it was ridiculous to think Harry Potter could lay a hand on him, he was a far better duelist with years of experience. However, in this setting he was slightly limited by the students all around…

"You bet I haven't done anything! What's going on?" A confused Carrow yelled from behind Severus, grasping at the back of his robes to push him out of the way. The thinner boy stumbled, but stood straight again and stretched his arm out.

"You killed them, you bastard! Stupefy!" Harry screamed. His magic was intensified by the power of his anger and the attack blasted out of his wand visible.

"Ennervate!" Severus countered to stop the spell before it hit him. It was a technique he had seen used sometimes, in which the wizard enervates the spell itself to neutralize it before it hit. He began to worry more seriously. Not only was Potter out of control, he was using spells that no fifth year should have learned! He couldn't attack, if he did he would be considered an offender as well, all he could do was use shield charms and try to negate the attacker's effects.

"Who in Merlin's name did I kill!?" Poor Carrow was white with fear, almost crouching behind Snape's robes. He'd stopped trying to escape and deal with it himself when he realized that for some reason, he was far safer behind the younger boy.

"No one! Be quiet Carrow!" Severus yelled behind him, "he doesn't need to hear your voice as well."

"Sectumsempra!"

Blast it! That was a spell that would surely be grounds for suspension! Severus blocked the spell wordlessly, flicking his arm to one side and redirecting it into the air where it dissipated harmlessly.

"Confringo!"

"Protego!" He brought up a shield again. The students in the hall were either scrambling or hesitatingly standing meters away, watching the duel with interest. Lily looked torn between running up to stop Harry and running out to call a teacher. She finally agreed on the latter and disappeared into the crowd. Severus cursed under his breath, he had to find a way to get Carrow out, Potter would calm down if he didn't have to see him.

"Carrow! Go! Run", Severus yelled. The boy took no time to obey, but as soon as he got out from behind him Potter blasted another spell.

"Incendio!" Severus had misjudged the span of his shield, small orange flames licked precariously close to the other boy's robes. He broke his attention for one minute to turn around.

"Aguamenti!" He sent water at the flames. Unfortunately, his magic was already at too high of a level from using the strong shield, and instead of a small stream, buckets of water gushed from his wand, soaking the other boy thoroughly. No, it was no good trying to get Carrow to escape. The only thing to do would be to wait it out until a teacher arrived.

"Get a teacher!" Severus yelled into the crowd, watching a few students run. He then turned to face Potter again. The boy looked murderous.

"They're dead because of you!" He screamed at Carrow, "Expulso! Reducto! Sectumsempra!" He blasted the last two spells at the wall, causing a large stone to explode violently. Severus turned on his heel and grabbed Carrow's wet arm, pulling him aside as the pieces of stone tumbled to the ground.

"Immobulus!" He yelled at Potter. The boy stepped sideways to avoid the spell, "Conjuctivitus", it was aimed at Severus instead, to take him out of the fight.

"Finite Incantatum", he yelled back, "Flipendo".

Luckily, the spell hit Potter's in the chest and he stumbled back.

"Locomotor Mortis", he casted while the boy was down. It hit true Potter stumbled, losing the ability to move his legs. From the position he was in on the floor, he still raised his hand and pointed his wand right at Carrow, who was peaking out from behind Severus.

"Sectum-"

"Immobulus!" A loud, high voice thundered. It struck Potter in the chest and stopped all movement. Amycus Carrow nervously got out and took a few cautious steps backward.

"What is the meaning of this?" Minerva McGonagall asked loudly, Lily standing behind her nervously. She took one look at the soaking wet Amycus Carrow and the murderous Harry Potter frozen with his arm still extended, and turned to Severus, "what happened here?"

"Harry Potter suddenly started attacking Carrow!" A Hufflepuff student in their audience answered unhelpfully. Severus racked his brain for an excuse.

"And why on earth did he do that?" McGonagall asked, white lipped. Her eyes were trained on Severus. Of course a Slytherin was behind it. Stupid, biased woman. Behind her, Slughorn finally appeared, having been alerted to the fight by another student. He turned towards Snape with his eyes narrowed. Lovely…he'd given the man another reason to dislike him.

"He...Carrow…looks very similar to the man who killed his family", Severus made up at the last moment. He visibly relaxed at having found a reasonable explanation. He tried to look as sympathetic as possible.

For a moment there was silence. The students watched on with wide eyes, Severus scanned them and saw both James Potter and Sirius Black standing among them, pale faced. On the other side was Avery, surrounded by a gaggle of Slytherin first years. _Just great…._

"Explain", McGonagall demanded.

"Potter's family was murdered last year", Severus started explaining, "It happened right in from of him, they made him watch." Post-traumatic stress was the best thing to call upon during a moment like this, "the man who did it, he looked almost exactly like Amycus Carrow here", he pointed to the soaking boy cowering against the wall, "Potter seemed to tense up as soon as he saw Carrow and I guessed that it was because of the similarity. I tried to stop him but…he was really angry. I could only prevent him from harming anyone", he finished. He pushed a stray strand of hair out of his face and smoothed down his robes where the water splashes had caused it to wrinkle.

"I didn't murder his family professor! Honest!" Amycus added from where he was leaning. He was a pathetic sight, sniffling and not even trying to get out of the puddle he was standing in.

"I could guess that much", McGonagall deadpanned. She then turned back to Severus, "Mr. Snape, isn't it? How do you know about this?"

That was a loose end…how could he explain how he knew that Carrow looked like the murderer if he hadn't seen the man?

"I…he's my cousin. I was on my way to my aunt's house. When I entered I found them dead, and Potter was repeating the murderer's appearances. Short black hair, dark eyes, and thin face, slightly taller than him…" He left it at that, hoping it would be believable enough. If needed, he could fabricate the memories necessary; it would only take him an hour or two. He could ask to go refresh himself, and then draw them up in his mind…maybe even thrust them into Potter's mind and take it over while his memories were looked through. Being a skilled Occlumens was a huge advantage…

"I see." McGonagall's expressions softened slightly, "what should be done with Potter, then? Horace, give him a Calming Drought and send him to St. Mungo's. He'll be on school approved leave for a while", she ordered the other professor.

"No", Severus protested, "That won't be necessary, professor. He'll be fine once Carrow is out of sight." If all else failed, he'd gladly break into the boy's mind and dull some of the memories to make his emotions about them less…intense. He didn't give a damn that it was unethical.

"Then go, Mr. Carrow. Try to stay out of Mr. Potter's vision from now on, at least until he's gotten used to seeing you", McGonagall instructed Carrow. The Slytherin boy gladly brushed off his robes and headed towards the stairs at a half-run, muttering about crazy Gryffindorks.

"Mr. Snape", she turned to Severus. He cringed inwardly, waiting for the punishment. He knew he had done nothing wrong, but the Gryffindor head of house always had it in for Slytherins.

"Your actions have been…commendable."

What? He looked up at the taller woman. She was glaring at him with obvious dislike, but her words seemed to negate that. Maybe she thought it would be too blatantly obvious if she gave him punishment…

"As you are the only one who knows of 's situation, would you mind training his emotions as to not go haywire upon seeing ? We cannot keep them apart forever."

He considered it. On one hand, he had to spend more time with Potter of all people. But on the other hand, he now had an excuse to talk to him whenever he wanted.

"I will, professor. He won't cause any trouble again", he assured her.

She nodded, "well, it does not seem entirely fair to punish the boy for understandable anger. I'll see you in class, Mr. Snape", she walked away. Damn Gryffindor bias…

Slughorn walked up to the immobilized Harry Potter and muttered a spell under his breath that caused the boy to levitate slowly. Snape followed him, stepping carefully as trying to remain completely inconspicuous. It was unlikely that it worked; the larger man kept sending him unwelcoming glares. _The only teacher I actually preferred…also hates me. Lovely second chance I've made for myself. _

They entered Slughorn's office, Potter still immobilized and Severus still trying to pretend he didn't exist. He spoke the password silently and wordlessly lowered his wards, opening the door. Severus followed him in.

"So, Mr. Snape. Can you explain why you and this boy seem to know spells beyond your years?" Slughorn asked disapprovingly as they entered. He didn't bother to invite him to sit down, so Severus stood by the wall, arms crossed.

"We learned from his mother", he explained, watching Slughorn place Potter on a chair and turn away to rummage through some drawers.

"And why did you find the need to learn dangerous spells? Confringo is not something for the layperson, and what was that other spell? Sectumsempra? I don't think I've come across that one before. If I find it to be something equally nasty, I will have this questioned, trauma or no", he spoke as he pulled out a thin fluted vial of clear blue liquid. He turned back to Potter and poured the liquid down his open mouth, tilting his head to distribute it.

Severus decided that there was really nothing left to lose, and the approval of the only teacher who had ever liked him to gain.

"Sir…about that night a few days ago. I just wanted to tell you that…I wasn't actually looking through anything on the Dark Arts. Professor Dumbledore said that he'd clear that up with you", he said as honestly as possible.

"He did no such thing", Slughorn snapped back. The man was a real pushover, but when he was angry…

Damn that old bastard. Severus inwardly seethed; Dumbledore had left him to deal with Slughorn alone! He thought carefully of what to say.

"Well he said he would", he mentally calmed himself. What he was going to say would not provide good results, but he could at least make the old man feel some remorse.

"I just want you to know sir, that I don't want to dabble in the Dark Arts. I know you think I do because everyone just takes that as a fact, but I don't. Not if I can help it. But it's difficult when everyone seems to take for granted that I'm somehow choosing to follow a path that any Slytherin knows leads to unnecessary danger. I don't want to be a dark wizard." He winced inwardly, maybe that had been too much...

There was a long silence. Slughorn peered into Potter's mouth to make sure the Drought had actually gone down his throat, and then took out his wand, pointing it at the boy, "ennervate."

Potter coughed immediately, having been released from the immobulus spell's hold. Slughorn then turned to Severus, "only fools say his name", the angry expression on his face was gone, "I'll have to talk to the headmaster. If you're lying to me when you said he was going to speak with me, you will not enjoy the consequences."

His voice was stern but unsure, and Severus mentally applauded himself. This was the best he could hope for. It meant that he was actually willing to find out for himself whether Severus had shown interest in the Dark Arts.

"Take Mr. Potter out of my office and to the Gryffindor common room. I've given him a rather strong dose, he will be a little woozy", he said gruffly, watching Potter sit up on the chair.

"Right, sir", Severus walked over to the boy and tugged on his arm. Harry stood up and blinked repeatedly.

"Potter, we're going to the Gryffindor common room", he instructed. The boy nodded his head slightly, seeming to be in deep thought.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Harry didn't remember much of what he'd done, but he didn't need to. It seemed everyone he met was hell bent on describing it all to him in detail.

"…should've seen the look on that pathetic Slytherin boy's face", Sirius was saying to Deepa, "I know Harry didn't really mean to do it, but bloody hell, it was epic! Like a real duel. We're proud of you Harry, you really put up a show out there, no matter what McGonagall says."

"Sirius, stop that. I don't think Harry needs reminding", Lily finally put her book down and turned to stare at him, "just look at him", she pointed a finger at Harry, "he's going green!"

"Sorry", Sirius said sheepishly. But he winked at him again when Lily turned her head.

They were in the Gryffindor Common room, and it was Friday night, almost two hours after the 'epic fight' itself. Harry only remembered feeling slightly drunk while Snape had dragged him all the way to the room and deposited him in front of the Fat Lady's painting. After a while he had stood up to see the Fat Lady watching him anxiously, and had spluttered the password and gone inside to collapse on a sofa next to Lily. She'd been surprisingly understanding of everything, and was glaring at anyone who dared to bother him.

"But Harry how'd you know all those spells? And how'd Snivellus know how to block them?" James questioned. After seeing Lily so determined to help him out, he'd stayed in the common room as well, and Sirius had followed him, along with Deepa. Most of the other Gryffindors had gone to bed after realizing they couldn't get any information out of him, so the room was quiet apart from Sirius's babbling to Deepa.

"I'm…not up to talking right now. I'll explain later", he stalled. He'd have to talk to Snape first to make sure their explanations matched. With a groan, he remembered that the meeting was that night. He sat up and looked at the clock, it was eight o'clock already; he'd have to leave soon in order to be at the Owlery by half past eight.

"Stop bothering him, James. He's tired, and he's clearly been overdosed on Calming Drought. At least wait until morning", Lily snapped at him. She turned to look at Harry, who was rubbing his forehead, "are you alright now? Is the woozy feeling gone?"

"Mostly", he mumbled, "I…uh…have to go see Snape."

Sirius made a face, "you poor child. If only we could help…" He probably assumed that it was to gain the 'emotion control' skills McGonagall had told Snape to teach him.

"It's fine, really", he assured them. He didn't like being around Snape one bit but he needed information, and Snape had said something about Slughorn.

"Harry's not an immature twit like you James, he doesn't discriminate between Houses, isn't that right?" Lily looked to him for confirmation.

Feeling like a deer in the headlights, Harry stuttered. Clearly, Lily considered Snape a friend – and Merlin knew why – but the Marauders were already under the impression that he hated him as much as they did.

"Um, yeah, but Snape and I…we don't get along", he told her. It seemed to be the right thing to say, as James and Sirius grinned, assuming he was just appeasing Lily, and Lily herself only frowned slightly.

"Well, I was impressed by the amount of knowledge he displayed today. I actually do know much more about him than I let on, and I'm surprised he was able to gather that much knowledge over the summer at his house", she finally replied, "he was being very mature in stopping you, and although I know you didn't you anything wrong I do expect you to show gratitude." She was rather…mature…when she wanted to be. Lily had two different sides to her. One was the playful, hot-tempered side she used with friends, and one was the more mature, guarding side that Harry had just been exposed to.

James and Sirius both had a hard time trying not to grimace as they watched Lily praise their enemy, but they did a good job keeping scowls off their faces.

"Well, I'll be going now. Try not to start any rumors…" Harry mentioned as he stood up from the couch.

"We won't", James promised, grinning from ear to ear. Harry groaned inwardly and let himself out of the common room. He heard the Fat Lady mutter something about alcohol in dormitories as he walked by, but paid it no mind.

As he reached the Owlery, he hesitated before stepping in. Looking around the room, he noticed that it was empty of other humans. He sighed and went inside to wait for Snape to arrive. One of the owls came by as he sat down on a bench, taking care to avoid being stained with owl droppings.

He delved into thought as he ran his hands through its feathers, thinking intently on the battle. Now that the Calming Drought was wearing off, he could remember more of it. He remembered feeling a sense of pure, blind rage as he recognized the skinny Slytherin boy as the man who had once murdered Hermione and, quite possible, Ron. After that realization, he hadn't even tried to rationalize. He only remembered feeling some pulling sensation on his arm – probably Snape – and completely losing it. He vaguely remembered how Snape had stood in front of the boy, but it had made him even angrier. It had seemed like he had been on the Hogwarts battlefield once more. He'd desperately wanted to avenge Hermione's death, and it had just seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so. On the battlefield, trying to get revenge, and Snape – Voldemort's murdering spy – had stepped in front of him, protecting his master's follower. That was all he remembered thinking.

He barely noticed the Owlery door opening until the smooth voice spoke.

"Has the Calming Drought worn off?"

Harry turned suddenly to see Snape coming to sit opposite to him, "yes, it has." He cringed inwardly as he thought of the coming confrontation. He had almost exposed both of them, almost foiled their entire plan…he stiffened against the expected anger and yelling.

But the slippery git managed to fool him again.

"Good. The official story is that we learned the spells from your mother. Make sure word of it gets out. Now, I believe I should probably explain why Slughorn has been giving me the evil eye for the past few days", he continued nonchalantly.

Harry's head snapped up, "you're not going to…say anything? No warnings, no 'work on your attitude'…nothing?" It was surprising…to say the least. This was the git who'd find fault in him for absolutely anything, why wasn't he taking an opportunity when it presented itself so clearly.

Snape, on the other hand, simple raised an eyebrow, "What am I supposed to say about a psychological reaction? I know enough psychology to have heard of Post Traumatic Stress, and luckily nothing went too much out of hand. I was also able to find a perfectly legitimate excuse; I told them that you thought you had seen your parents' killer. Seeing how close to the truth that it, is should pose any problems. Furthermore, the only powerful Legilimens in the building is one who already knows the truth. Are there any problems?"

"No, none", Harry replied cautiously. The other boy was being strange, he suddenly looked rather uncomfortable.

"Well onto the main issue. After our last meeting I approached Slughorn to ask him about Horcruxes-"

"WHAT? He probably thinks you're some type of dark wizard now! Any teacher would, that was incredible stupid!" Harry burst out, "I actually asked him the same question, except he knew I was only sent by Dumbledore. Did you know that Vo-"

"Yes, I know", Snape glared at him, irritated for the outburst, "I discovered that fairly soon, after Slughorn dragged me to Dumbledore and the old fool looked into my mind to verify that my questions were harmless. I'd only learned about the term from a book in mention."

Harry paled, "but if he looked into your mind…he could have seen something!"

"Are you really as foolish as I think you are? Do you really think Albus Dumbledore can properly Legilimize someone who's been suspect to the Dark Lord's superior mind magic for years? He did not see anything that I did not wish him to", Snape sneered.

Harry calmed down at his confidant tone, "alright. I guess it's fine then", he looked down for a moment, and then looked back up, "how should I act at this slug club party? Is the dress formal? Will he ask me questions? I don't know a thing about Potions."

"Clearly", Snape gave him a scornful half-smile, "that much is obvious. It will be as boring a party as any other, and it is semi formal. He may ask you questions about your past. Don't break down crying or anything as an act, he'll see through it. Just remain mildly uncomfortable with the questions and he'll stop", he explained clearly, "and I wanted to say that you should turn Slughorn into an ally. He may be just another old coot by himself, but he has very important contacts up his sleeve, he's useful."

Harry snorted, "sounds like you're trying to turn me into a Slytherin."

"Oh no, that's probably too good to be possible", he replied mildly, "but you should know by now that Slytherin methods are far more effective. They work, therefore you will use them. Am I clear?"

"Fine. I'll be buddies with your favorite teacher", Harry shot back, "anything else?"

"No. You may go", Snape turned to leave.

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The next morning was a Saturday, the very first Hogsmeade weekend of the year. Severus had finally managed to fall asleep at a reasonable hour, so he was still sleeping when Avery shoved his bed curtains aside.

"Severus! Wake up!" The blond boy pushed aside the curtains and let light fall straight into his eyes. Severus cursed himself for having chosen the bed near the window.

"You're going to do everything I say today", Avery announced. Severus grunted and turned around in the bed, pulling the sheets over his head to cover himself from the light.

"He never sleeps in. What's gotten into him today?" Augustus Rookwood asked, exiting the common bathroom.

"I don't know. Probably all drained out from his little bout with the green-eyed Potter", Avery replied. He tugged the blanket off Severus, leaving him shivering on the bed in the cloth pants he slept in.

"Green-eyed?" Rookwood questioned, "I thought he was brown eyed?"

"There's another one. You weren't at the fight yesterday so you probably haven't met him yet. Some relative of Severus, just transferred to Hogwarts", Avery explained. He took hold of Severus ankles and slowly tried to drag him out of the bed.

"Get out!" Severus finally yelled, sitting straight up in bed and glaring at the other two boys in full teacher mode, "I'll sleep if I want to, damn it!" Luckily for him, the glare worked just as well as it always had. The other two stepped back from the bed.

Avery puts his hands up, "we're leaving for Hogsmeade. You're going to be late."

"I'm not going to Hogsmeade. I don't need anything; I have enough quills and potions ingredients to last the rest of the year", he snarled, pulling the blanket from Avery's hands and draping it over his half-naked self.

"Oh but you said you would. My little project, remember?"

"I never said so. Leave me alone", he reached over to shove the curtains closed and fell back into bed.

"Ah well. Lost cause anyway", Rookwood commented, "tell me more about this new Potter. Is he proper Gryffindork material? Is he related to the other Potter? When I heard about the fight I thought they were talking about James Potter, I was too tired last night to pay much attention to rumors."

"He's the right image of James Potter, although people say they're not related. And he's just another Gryffindor; idiotically brave with a brain the size of a peanut. Went straight for poor Carrow, although he didn't do anything. Apparently he resembled his parent's killer. Mental that one, might want to stay away or you'll catch something", Avery took his outer robes off his bedpost and shrugged them on, "you might see him today at Hogsmeade, he hangs out with that mudblood girl, Lily Potter, he's probably going with her or with the idiotic four."

At this, Severus moved a little in the bed. Harry was going to Hogsmeade with Lily? Lily never went unless she had to get something. She had all the sweets she wanted here at Hogwarts, since her mum was always sending her things, and she was against drinking butterbeer. In the muggle world, she was still underage and she held to that strongly. She usually stayed behind and studied with Alice. She had gone on dates in the past, but she was not seeing anyone right now. Severus was always the first to know when she was. More importantly, he was beginning to remember something rather vaguely…something that she had said while exiting Slughorn's classroom…

_Sev are you busy this weekend?_

Had she been about to ask him to Hogsmeade? That she was attempting to extract the 'fun' he'd promised her? Could it be that she'd wanted to go just to have fun? With him? As he began to think, the sleepiness slowly drifted away, and he slowly pushed the blanket aside and stepped out, bare feet touching the floor.

After a second, Avery noticed him, "Hey 'gustus, he's up. Looks like he finally remembered our little deal."

"What deal?" Rookwood asked as he watched Severus walked to the bathroom.

"Nothing for you to know. It's just a little project of mine", Avery replied.

Severus exited the bathroom a few minutes later, freshly showered and wearing his school robes. His wet hair hung limp around his face and his scowl had been replaced by a pensive expression.

"Where are we going, Avery?" He asked while drying his hair with magic.

"Come with me and you'll find out", the blond boy replied, "and do I have to remind you that you are permitted to call me Marius?"

"Right. Well I'm ready. Let's go, Marius", he said the name awkwardly.

They rushed out of the room to join the other Slytherins going out for the weekend. The walk to the small town was long, but Severus didn't protest. This was the first time he'd gone willingly, without the express purpose to buy extra quills or a scarf for the winter. He'd mostly just been embarrassed to go. He'd never had anyone to go with, and it had seemed embarrassing to walk around alone. This time, he was planning to use Avery for this purpose. Once he was done, he wanted to go and find Lily.

Avery dragged him through many of the better-visited streets that held stores that sold typical essentials for the students. He took him down Diagon Alley, and down a bustling street, almost losing him in the crowd several times. Finally, he stopped.

"We're here. Go on in", he gave Severus a push in the direction of a store with glass windows. When they entered, he suddenly felt small.

They were in a formal clothier. The more Severus looked around, the stranger he felt. His older self had been a regular in the place, he'd visited every two months or so to buy new robes and coat. However his younger mind was astonished to be in a place so expensive for the first time.

"Don't just stand there, walk", Avery instructed.

Severus walked, but didn't keep quiet, "why are we here?" He whispered. There were only two other customers in the store. One was a young man a little older than himself, examining a long frock coat. The other was a older man talking quietly to the lady at the counter. Overall, the place was almost silent.

"Slughorn's having his little party on Tuesday. You're going to take me as a guest, and I'm going to find someone that catches your eye", Avery explained, not even trying to keep his voice down. The sound reverberated off the walls of the large place, and Severus felt like sinking into the floor. Luckily the other customers paid them no attention.

Avery walked straight up to a man wearing black robes with the shop's logo on the front, and talked to him in a low voice. The man nodded and turned to Severus, "this way."

He followed, feeling as if he was walking into some kind of trap. He was uncomfortably aware of the clicking his uniform shows made on the spotless floor, and almost felt like looking back at Avery to make sure he didn't leave. Luckily, he managed to resist the childish urge.

In around ten minutes, he found himself dressed in black and dark blue dress robes.

He stood perfectly still as the man adjusted them onto his frame, wishing he was back in his school robes. A part of him was glad to feel the smooth silk material his older self always wore. They were nicely designed, not too formal, but just enough for an evening party. The outer coat was a pleasant black, and the inner robes were dark blue, worn over black pants. Unlike his uniform's tie, this one was made of a soft silk.

He heard a creaking and turned around to see that Avery had entered the room. The blond boy turned to the employee and nodded, and the other man left the room.

"That's fine. Remove them so we can take them", he said.

"I'd really prefer to go in my school ro-"

"No. You're not. You're going in this, it's part of our agreement. Now take them off", Avery finalized. Severus sighed and went back behind the curtain, removing the dress robes and slipping back into the familiar cloth of his uniform. He sighed again, trying to imagine the price. There was no more question of saving the money he had allocated for the year…

He walked out with the neatly folded robes and Avery took them, walking out of the measuring room and into the store's main room. He started to protest as Avery paid, but decided not to make a fuss of it in the quiet store. He waited until they exited.

"Thanks for paying, I didn't bring any money with me. I'll pay you back when we get back to school", he told him.

"I already know your situation Severus, you don't exactly have five galleons at the moment. Just owe me a favor or something", Avery replied nonchalantly.

Severus winced, he'd only saved three galleons. Paying in return for a favor…he shouldn't have expected anything else from a Slytherin. He gritted his teeth and decided to get rid of the favor as quickly as possible by helping him with his homework.

They reached the end of Diagon Alley and Avery turned to him, "are you planning to go back to Hogwarts now?"

"No, I need to look for Potter. Harry Potter", he added, "He'll probably be with Lily as you said."

"Check Zonkos then. I'll see you later", he walked away upon seeing Mulciber in a nearby shop.

Left by himself, Severus pushed his way through the thick crown until he was on one side of the street, and began walking towards Zonkos. Unlike him, Lily was familiar with the shop owner, and visited whenever she entered Hogsmeade, even if she never bothered to buy anything. He muddled his way through a crowd of Hufflepuffs and reached the glass front of the joke shop. He peered inside and immediately glimpsed Lily's red hair.

He looked around after entering the shop, searching for the red hair he'd seen. He found her near the counter, talking amicable with Mr. Zonko.

"Sev! You're here!" She exclaimed as she he approached her. Beside her was Harry Potter, looking curiously at a small black package.

"I was going to ask you to come along yesterday but I got…distracted", she gave Harry a nervous glance but he didn't seem perturbed at the mention.

"I was here to obtain some things. I saw you through the window", he explained. She walked towards him and took his sleeve.

"Come on then, me and Harry are just about to go see Madame Rosmerta at the Three Broomsticks."

"Harry and I", he corrected almost automatically.

"Just a moment", Harry muttered, turning the package over in his hands to read the label. Lily pulled him aside to wait.

"I was very worried for him", she whispered, "he seemed so lost yesterday after that fight. And the others haven't been very considerate; they're treating him like some sort of hero. It's despicable, really. I've tried to keep the gossip away from him but the staring isn't going to stop for a while. Luckily he seems fine now", she gave him a small smile, "he's so wonderful, you know. Very naïve, but wonderful still, and he's grateful to you for stopping him from doing anything drastic."

Severus highly doubted it, but nodded anyway.

"You will help him out won't you? He's under a lot of trauma and he really needs someone who can understand him", she continued. He simply nodded again. Seemed she was doing a good enough job of taking care of the boy if she was so worried about him.

"Alright let's go", Harry paid for the package and pocketed it. However when he turned around, he burst into laughter, pointing at him.

"Wha-" Lily turned to see where Harry was pointing at him, and when she turned, a small smile played at her lips.

Suddenly Severus felt a tingling sensation in his hair. He reached up to touch it, it felt no different, but specks of powder dislodged and came free into his hand.

"What is it? What happened?" he demanded, snarling at both of them. Harry only laughed harder, and Lily put her hand to her mouth, too late to prevent an eruption of giggles.

He turned around to see if the subject of their laughter was behind him. But he only saw the laughing face of Sirius Black.

"Beautiful, Snivellus, simply beautiful!" the boy roared with laughter, holding a packet of red powder.

"What in the name of Merlin -" he suddenly caught a glimpse of himself in the shop window. His normally black hair was now a flaming Gryffindor red, the same color as the packet Black was holding. Temporary Color powder, if he remembered correctly. He burned with rage and reached for his wand.

"Careful with that stick, Snivellus, wouldn't want to do something you'd regret!" James Potter advised from behind him, eyes filled with mirth.

Fine then. He wouldn't use it. His rage had turned into a cold hatred. How dare he…how dare he ruin his day with Lily! How dare he make Lily laugh at him! He left his wand in his pocket, not bothering with it. He pulled his hand back and punched Sirius Black straight in the face, hearing the crack of his nose under his fist. The other boy buckled under the force of the punch. When he pulled his hand back, it was stained with blood, but he couldn't have cared less.

"Sev!" He heard Lily call out as he ran out of the shop. He didn't pay her any attention. He simply ran out onto the street and didn't stop. Didn't stop until he reached the Hogwarts grounds. Didn't stop when the crowds of curious students pointed at him and laughed. Didn't stop when he ran up the first flight of stairs he saw. Only one thought passed through his mind.

_I need a place to hide._


	11. The Diadem of Ravenclaw

**One of my reviewers asked me how I got the idea for this story, so briefly explain. One of the Harry Potter characters that really intrigued me was Snape. Even though he was never mentioned too often in the earlier books, once everything came together in the end you can't help but imagine how he working behind the scenes throughout the years. His relationship with Lily was also amazingly planned out (Rowling is pure genius) and I really wanted to depict it because it seemed so imperfect yet idealistic. The only way to do this was through time travel, because I wanted to write about the Severus Snape that had already been through the war, not the younger teenage version. ****However, I don't really like stories that have nothing but romance, and I enjoy writing plot. The plot of the battle against Voldemort is very perfectly written, and you can't have Voldemort without Harry Potter. There's also the fact that I don't like going to far from the original story's characters because they're already so beautifully done (I'm praising JK too much, aren't I?). So I decided on a plot line in which they would use each other's strengths to defeat Voldemort by themselves, and this is what came out of it.**

**Enjoy reading, and once again, review your thoughts!**

**Chapter 11**

When the wrought-iron door slowly manifested itself into the castle wall, he didn't stop to think. He only opened the door and ran through.

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Severus Snape woke up a while later.

Around him, the Room was a mess. Pieces of shattered glass were littered everywhere. A set of draperies nearby lay shredded. Some cutlery had clearly been thrown around. It was the room of someone who'd lost control of his emotions. He sat up from where he had been lying on a soft Persian rug, trying to recall what had happened in the past hours.

New robes.

Seeing Lily at Zonkos…

…Sirius Black and the color powder.

He sat up quickly and picked up a shard of mirror nearby from where he had clearly thrown it, the color had worn off. His hair was the deep, almost bluish black it always was. Severus sighed and tossed the glass aside, pushing himself to his feet. All he remembered of the past hours was the feeling of blind rage, of being humiliated in front of _Lily _of all people. And worst of all, being humiliated _by _Lily. The sound of her soft giggles plagued him to the bone.

_Severus Tobias Snape, _he thought to himself, _you are a grown man, and being in a teenage body is not an excuse to act like an idiot. You are not a pathetic, emotional, lovesick fool. _He spent a moment reconsidering that last point.

_Alright maybe you are, _he conceded, _but it's no excuse to act like one. _

He remembered the crunch of Sirius Black's nose and smirked in spite of himself, but sobered again when he thought of Lily. Why had she laughed? Harry had laughed because he was the same bumbling idiot he'd always been. But why had she? Did she really think his humiliation funny? After all the times she had attempted to stand up for him in front of the Marauders, did she finally stop? Would she still defend him now that she had seen his anger?

The flurry of emotions knitted together and constricted him. For the first time, he was beginning to feel something akin to anger towards Lily. Precious Lily, who had laughed at him. Beautiful Lily, who had sounded so upset at his anger. How did she feel about him? Severus picked up the piece of mirror again and studied his reflected. Long nose, plain hair, features that were much too angled, pale skin that was somewhat translucent…were his efforts for nothing? Lily was nothing like him. She was not exactly the epitome of beauty, but she had so much appeal. Her face was so perfectly shaped, not too round and not too angular. Her lips always looked so soft and were contoured beautifully, like those of a nymph. Her eyes were such a deep shade of green and her hair…

It was simply not possible for someone as beautiful as her to fall in love with him, he suddenly decided. Simply not possible…

What had he been thinking? Second chance…his life had been destroyed from the very start. No amount of change would get him what he truly wanted; he was nothing but a fool. When he left the room, she would probably seek him out and admonish him for his careless actions, blame him for Sirius's ruined good looks. And he would stand there and listen, and nod, and apologize, because he was a fool and because he loved her.

He threw the mirror to the side and sighed heavily. He could do this, he was used to rejection. He should be thankful at least for the opportunity he was given to be friends with her, even if he could have nothing more.

Finally looked around the room, he wondered where he was. It was a large room, and filled with…things. All types of things. Furniture and jewelry and books. The ceiling yawned high, impossibly high. Probably charmed to look taller. He suddenly remembered the materializing of the iron-hinged door in the wall, and how he'd desperately wanted a place to hide from his own shame.

The Room of Hidden Things.

"Is anyone in here?" He shouted loudly. No answer, he was alone in the room. He walked around curiously and picked up a large tome lying nearby. _Bedroom Spells for the Confident Witch, _it proclaimed. He set it back down gingerly. He continued to explore. Severus's mind was blank, blank with the pure, absolute blankness that could only come with Occlumency. He had to Occlude; it was the only way to stop himself from thinking about Lily. The pain that was associated with her name was too deep to think about. He had to occlude, and occupy himself with something else.

So he walked around and continued to search for the Diadem of Ravenclaw.

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"Lily, it'll be fine", Harry said for the tenth time.

"No it won't. We're going to see him, and then I'm going to make him apologize to Sirius, and then we're both going to say sorry to him for laughing at him. Hopefully, I'll be able to make Sirius apologize to him too, but that'll have to wait until after they've re-grown the bones in his nose and he can speak without wheezing", she explained haughtily in her no-nonsense voice.

Harry sighed. They were both sitting on the stone floor outside the Slytherin Common Room, and it was bloody embarrassing. Every Slytherin that walked past gave them weird looks, and then rushed in to warm Amycus Carrow that 'that mental Gryffindork' and his mudblood friend were waiting outside to kill him, and that he should stay put inside until the danger was gone. The rumors still hadn't died down, it had only been a day and they were flourishing, being spun out of control. All the Slytherins who hadn't been there had no doubt heard that Harry Potter was a murderous nutcase with a plan to kill Amycus Carrow in cold blood. He still cringed when the younger students looked at him with fear.

The real reason that they were camped outside the portrait was to catch Severus when he came out. Lily had expertly reasoned that there was no way he was going to stay inside his room all day, and that he would eventually come out for dinner. Clearly she didn't know him as well as she thought she did. Or she was in denial. They'd already skipped lunch while waiting for him, and he hadn't been seen anything there either. She planned to give him both a good talking to and apology when he did wander out.

"Lily, I don't think he's going to appreciate being scolded right now…" he added slowly. Snape did not like to be scolded at all. Period. And if he were scolded, he would need someone to blame for it, and since he seemed to regard Lily as if she'd hung the moon and lit the sun, the position would definitely fall upon him. And Harry had learned through a plethora of experience that Snape was like a rather snappy cat. You needed to treat him carefully, or he'd bite.

"Harry it's not just a scolding. Of course his actions were horrendous for such a silly prank, but we need to apologize as well. Don't you feel guilty for laughing at him?" She demanded, her arms crossed,

"Nope. Not really", Harry deadpanned truthfully, "it was bloody hilarious, would've been hard not to laugh."

"You ungrateful toerag", she pronounced delicately, "he has agreed to dedicate his time to helping you overcome your mental trauma, and this is no way to treat him. You are going to apologize to him, and I'll see that you do", she huffed. Her hair was spilling down her back, out the clip she had lost while running back to Hogwarts, and she sounded so motherly that Harry couldn't help but smile.

"Yes mum", he agreed, thinking how ironically truthful the statement was. Lily didn't respond but a small smile touched her lips.

They went back to waiting silently, the apprehension building slowly. Finally, when yet another Slytherin walked by and gave him a frightened look, he lost it. Harry leapt up and grabbed the poor fourth year by the neck of his green robes.

"Listen carefully", he began, Lily gasping behind him, "you are going to walk into your Common Room, yes? Nod if you understand, good. You are going to walk into your Common Room, and you are going to find Amycus Carrow, got it?" At the boy's wide eyes, Harry shook him again, "you are going to find him, and you are going to tell him that I _am not planning on killing him. _And you are going to do this very loudly, such as your entire cursed House hears, understood?"

At the boy's frightened nod, Harry shoved him towards the portrait that led to the Slytherin Commons, feeling the pressure emanate slowly now that the misconception was cleared up.

"You're not?"

He turned quickly and found himself looking at another Slytherin, a fifth year boy.

"Pity. I would've liked to see another fight. ."

The boy was taller than him, as tall as Snape. He had the aristocratic features of a Malfoy, but not the pale, almost silvery white hair. Instead, it was a deep golden blonde, and he kept it long, tossing it over his shoulder. His pale grey eyes were crinkled with mirth.

"So then why are you here, green-eyed Potter?"

"Who are you?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Marius Avery", the other boy didn't move to extend a hand, as if he didn't want to get his fingers dirty with the touch of a Gryffindor, "answer the question."

"We're here to see Severus", Lily spoke from behind him, "do you know where he is?"

"He's not in his room", he glanced over her form and wrinkled his nose, "why would you be interested?"

"He's my friend", Lily said firmly, "if he's not in his room then where is he?"

"Even he wouldn't make friends with your kind", Avery deadpanned. Harry made to go to her defense but felt her hand on his arm, stopping him.

"Fine. If you don't know where he is then we'll look for him", she nodded at him once and turned away.

"Good luck then, green-eyed Potter", he addressed Harry with a nod, "and mudblood girl", he sneered at Lily.

It took all Harry's mental stamina to kick the bastard in his smirking face for insulting his mother, but he managed to keep it in. When they rounded the corner, he burst out.

"How dare he! Lily how can you deal with that? I once knew another muggleborn girl who was called that, you know. Bullied by a bigoted Slytherin. You know what she did? She punched him right in the face. She was my hero for years. Still is, actually", he rambled.

Lily smiled, "she must have been a very violent girl."

"Oh no, she wasn't violent at all. She was the nicest, sweetest, most intelligent girl every. She just also knew how to throw a bloody good punch when necessary", he said with gusto. Lily laughed at the words and he smiled at the image of Hermione as she had been in her third year, "so…do you want to go to the Common Room and play Exploding Snap for a while?"

She sobered immediately, "no! How can you even think of playing right now! We have to find Sev, he's not in his room and he's not in the library, he could be upset somewhere for all I know! We can't just leave him Harry he's our friend."

Harry didn't bother to correct the last statement, it seemed she still regarded their relationship through rose-colored glasses, but if it pleased her, then so be it.

"He'll be fine Lily, he knows how to take care of himself", he tried to put a comforting hand on her shoulder but she shrugged it off.

"That's the problem! Can't you see, he doesn't know how to deal with his hatred and humiliation? He doesn't know how to laugh it off because he's too serious! And it's because he's had to take care of himself, all alone, for so many years, surely you understand? He needs someone with him when he's upset, he can't just keep everything bottled in!"

"He didn't keep much bottled in today, Lily. And it resulted in Sirius's lack of proper nasal cartilage", he explained carefully.

"Harry, he needs a friend right now, alright? And we're not going to leave him alone, because his other friends are Slytherins completely foreign to the concept of comfort", she told him strictly, "you didn't see Avery that worried that his own roommate hadn't been at meals and was nowhere to be found, did he? Someone has to find him and it might as well be us!"

Harry allowed himself to be dragged a while further before he sighed and gave in, "fine. Hey, let's check the Owlery. He goes there sometimes."

"Thank you Harry, let's. If we don't find him at dinner we're going to Professor Slughorn", and with a firm hand grasping his arm, she pulled him in the direction of the Owlery.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Tempus", Severus growled.

He stared at the glowing letters with growing annoyance. It was half past one, far past curfew. The room was as bright as it had been all day, charmed to have windows that showed sunlight no matter what time it was. He'd already spent over twelve hours in the room, and still no Diadem.

Maybe it was something that only the Boy Who Lived could find; maybe he was just wasting his time. But he kept looking. If he didn't have anything to do, he'd remember Lily's giggles and they would plague him again. The sound was still in the forefront of his mind, dulled by the efforts of his self-Occlumency.

He tossed aside yet another trinket and pulled a sheet off a sofa, checking to see if there was anything inside or underneath it before pushing it to the pile of 'already searched' things. That pile was disappointingly small, and the rest of the room was tremendously large. He'd already searched through countless cupboards and chests of drawers, almost a hundred sofas and many other trinkets and pieces of jewelry. Every spark of a jewel nearby excited him. It was a diadem, so it had to have jewels, didn't it?

After another two grueling hours of searching, accompanied by the sound of things being thrown and the rumbling of his own stomach from not eating anything since a meager breakfast, he sat down in defeat. It was useless, the room held hundreds of thousands of hidden things, collected since the Founder's days. It was practically impossible to find a small, jeweled Diadem amongst all of it.

He sat back on the sofa he'd moved to one side and closed his eyes, leaving himself open to thought. For twenty years the only purpose in his life had been gained through Lily. The only reason he hadn't died, for there were too many things against him. The only reason he'd come out alive was because he was convinced that one day, he would go back and be with her. The Time Sphere was a project he'd worked on for over seventeen years, silently piling together all the previous information he could find about the history of Time Travel, both wizard and muggle, for he had been desperate enough. Countless nights had been spent pouring through all of them, each and every article, text, book, and tome. He could confidently say that he knew more about time travel than any other witch or wizard alive, including Albus Dumbledore.

When he'd finally made it, the feeling of ecstasy that had poured through him was unimaginable. He'd spent so much time preparing the perfect destination time, the perfect everything, before realizing that there was one large flaw. Unlike a normal Time Turner, the time sphere didn't correlate with future events, it wiped out the timeline and created it completely anew. If he had gone back and ended up with Lily Evans, then Harry Potter would never have been born, and Voldemort would have won. It had been a choice between his own love life and the future of the Wizarding World…and Albus Dumbledore had rubbed off on him too much with his talk of the Greater Good.

But he'd had the chance. When he knew for certain that Voldemort would win, there had been nothing holding him back, nothing to lose. He'd gotten his wish. He now had the opportunity to live his life over, to show Lily how much he loved her...

It was a fool's dream, and it always had been. He squashed the line of reasoning firmly, and turned to more important thoughts.

Now, the only thing left to do was to save the Wizarding World, as corny as it sounded. It was the only purpose he seemed to have left. Potter could never do it on his own; he'd just get everyone killed. The only way to prove himself to…well…himself, was to find the Horcruxes and destroy Voldemort. After that…

_Maybe I'll become a grouchy Potion's Master and terrify Lily and James' children_, he thought with cold humor.

He closed his eyes and found himself wishing desperately for the Diadem of Ravenclaw. At least then his moping would have amounted to something, he didn't know if he'd be able to find the room again once he left, and he didn't particularly fancy going back into society yet. The room was fine. It was large, it had everything he needed (including the convenient lavatory in the corner), and best of all, there were no people in it.

As the hours passed, he found his thought settling on one subject. The diadem. Before long, he had fallen asleep on the sofa.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

_Smaller hands suddenly wrapped around him. Small, warm, delicate hands. He turned around to peer into the green eyes. _

_They looked back at him, glimmering with desire. He stood still, allowed her to press her lips to his. Allowed her to run her hands down his chest, while he reciprocated softly. He was pressed up against a wall, with her in front of him. This time she was wearing Muggle clothes, a pair of loose white shorts and a light blue t-shirt. It was so simple, and so familiar, and so very Lily. He, on the other hand, was wearing the blue robes bought at the clothier, in lieu of his typical black robes. _

"_You look upset", Lily whispered in his ear._

"_I suppose I am", he conceded, capturing her lips again. She drew back after a few moments. _

"_Why is that?" She asked, humor dancing in her eyes. _

"_Because I cannot have you", he told her. There was no use lying to this Lily, it was all a dream anyway, and he treasured every moment too much to lie. These dreams were precious and rare between the nightmares of his life as a Death Eater. His dreams were always frighteningly lucid, which was a horror when it came to his nightmares. But he was willing to put up with it for these dreams. _

"_You wanna bet?" she asked mischievously, pulling at his collar so that his outer robes slid off his body, leaving him in the light blue shirt and dark trousers. He smirked and pulled her closer, running his hands through her hair. _

"_You have beautiful hair", he whispered. _

_The Lily in his dreams seemed glad to change the topic, "you should tell me that more often. The real me."_

"_If only", he ran his hands over the soft material of her t-shirt. It was always Lily that took the initiative in these dreams, she was hot-tempered and it would be strange if she acted any differently. It was just another thing he loved about her. _

_She dislodged the buttons of his shirt in between kisses. His lips were sore but he didn't care, there was no better feeling in the world. Suddenly the last button gave way and she eagerly pushing the garment off his chest._

_A strange feeling arose. _

_Severus suddenly stopped touching her and moved his hands away. He turned his head. Lily put her hands on his face and made him turn to see her, "what is it? Why did you stop?"_

"_I…cannot do this while the real Lily is angry with me", he explained. _

_She pouted at first, but then understanding shone in her eyes._

"_I understand."_

_He sighed and turned around. All his thoughts kept turning back to the Diadem, even in this dream. If he could only have it, everything would make sense. The least he could do was defeat Voldemort; after all, this was the timeline that his magic had created. He was responsible for what happened here. _

"_Like this?"_

_Lily said it softly, he could barely hear it. He turned around slowly. _

_She was standing there with her head tilted to one side, a curious expression on her face. In her hands was a small, jeweled crown. _

_She had to spread her palms to balance the size of it. It was made of silver, slightly dull form age and carved intricately. At its center was a large sapphire, the size of a large coin. Dangling from it was another sapphire; smaller and shaped like a raindrop. The stones sparkled in the light. _

"_Yes. Yes, you do understand", he gasped. He reached out to take it from her, but she closed her hands over it. _

"_Not yet, not so easy", she teased, "if you really want it, you'll have to take it from me."_

_She turned around and ran. Severus didn't hesitate before running after her. For the first time, he noticed the surroundings in the dream. They were at Hogwarts, in Ravenclaw Tower. The bright sun rays were peaking in from glass windows, and portraits of philosophers and scholars lined the walls. Lily was still running playfully, her feet were bare. He noticed that his own were bare as well. _

_She ran into a classroom and closed the door behind her. Severus stopped in front of it, it was the first year's Charms classroom, there were no other doors inside. He hesitated before opening it. _

_When he pushed the door open, the room was empty. _

_He glowered at the empty desks and chair and turned back to look down the hallway. He caught a glimpse of Lily's bright hair as she rounded a corner. _

"_Wait! Lily!" He ran after her, this time picking up the pace. Why was she running away with it? Why didn't she just give it to him? He himself didn't know why he was chasing her, it was only a dream after all. But somehow he felt that it mattered. _

_He turned the corner and cursed under his breath. She was nowhere to be seen. For a while he wandered around, feeling strange. He had never been alone in these dreams. There was always Lily, or Voldemort, or a nameless, torturing death eater. But now he was peacefully alone, alone in the hallways of Hogwarts. _

"_Lily! Where are you!" he called loudly. _

"_Here"_

_He turned around and watched her silently. She was giving him an impish look, holding the diadem behind her back. The faint glint of a sapphire was barely visible from behind the edge of her t-shirt. _

"_You're going to leave me if I give it to you", she stated. _

_Severus's eyes widened, "never. I don't care what you think of me, I'll never leave you. I swear. I've already promised, remember? Always." He held out his hand invitingly._

_She bit her lip in consideration, looking into the distance. After a few moments, she seemed to come to a decision. _

"_Alright. Here", she held out the Diadem. _

_He watched it carefully. She seemed so…relenting compared to the resistance she'd put up before. He gingerly grasped the edge of the diadem. After not feeling any harmful spell, he took it from her hands and slipped it into the pocket of his robes. _

"_Thank you", he told her softly. She simply smiled in return, but looked at him sadly, as if she had just given something awful. _

"_Be careful, Sev."_

_-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-_

In the Room of Requirement, Severus woke up with a groan. He sat up on the sofa and felt sweat covering his forehead, even though the room was not too warm and he'd been resting for the past hours.

He shifted uncomfortably. This sofa was not very soft; it seemed to have lumps in it. Large, pointy lumps. Who in their right mind felt that they needed to hide it? It was probably just a spring that had snapped under the upholstery. He sat up gingerly, and noticed that the pain in his side had not left.

It wasn't the sofa that was lumpy, it was his pocket. There was something in his pocket.

Not daring to even breathe, he slowly brought his hand up and inserted it into the pocket of his fraying robes. His hand fell upon the unmistakable texture of engraved metal. Still holding his breath in amazement, he drew out the Diadem of Ravenclaw.

_-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-_

Professor Slughorn was usually a rather happy man.

He had the fame, he had the contacts, and he had the network. He had the skilled students under his wing, and the certificate of Mastery in Potions in his cabinet. He had everything a middle aged man could possible desire. He was happy.

But not at four in the morning. Four in the morning was a bad hour, an unholy hour. It was the hour people used when describing their hard work (…worked until four in the morning!...), and it was just not a good time to be awake. Thus, he was not happy at this particular moment. He was not happy because it was four in the morning and there was an insistent knock on his door.

The first thought that came into his head was that it was Dumbledore. Old man had a keen lack of sense when it came to these things, probably dropped by for tea. At four in the morning. Or maybe it was Minerva, mental woman that she was. Probably came to complain about some punishment or other that he had bestowed upon her precious Gryffindors. He tried to be lenient, but the occasional exploded caldron did merit a detention with Filch.

He grumbled as he tossed his blankets off himself and heaved his body out of bed. Now there was a spectacular night of sleep, completely ruined. He walked over to the door at his leisure, trying to ignore the sharp, insistent rap coming from the other side.

Blasted headmaster and his blasted head of Gryffindor.

Or maybe it was a student, like Severus. The very memory of that encounter had him in shivers. Luckily, he'd confirmed with Dumbledore that the boy was only curious and not in danger of becoming a dark wizard. Blasted headmaster didn't think it was fit to tell him before, thought he would figure it out, did he? He rubbed the sleep from his bleary eyes and undid the wards on his door.

"Yes, yes, what is it?" He opened the door wide.

Outside, there stood two students.

One of them was Lily Evans, the splendid muggleborn girl who'd done so well in his class. She didn't look so well at the moment. She was usually rather good-looking, but today her hair was hanging limply around her face, and there were large bags under her eyes. Her face held a look of pure worry. First Severus, and now this girl, insomnia must be spreading.

The other was the new one, the one his Slytherins referred to as the 'green-eyed Potter', Harry Potter. The boy had just started his class, and had already begun to display an extraordinary amount of talent for Potions, the very thought made him beam with pride. He looked a little worried, but mostly tired. His hand was covering his mouth in a wide yawn.

"Professor Slughorn, we need to talk to you", Lily began. She was biting her lip nervously.

"Not at four in the morning, surely? Have you had any sleep at all? My dear girl, you look horrendous", he hoped that would put her off, make her go back to her room and sleep instead of disturbing him.

"It's important. A student is missing", she added.

A student was missing? Well, Slughorn thought, that did sound rather important.

"Alright then, come in. Tell me who this student is and where he or she was last seen", he led them to the sitting room, and the hourglass in the corner began to pour its sand. Interesting conversation then, was it? He rubbed his eyes harder and tried to pay attention to the students who had seated themselves on his sofa.

"The student is Severus Snape. He was last seen running towards Hogwarts", green-eyed Potter answered.

"We're worried because we haven't seen a trace of him since before noon", Lily Evans added, still looking nervous and worried.

Severus Snape. The boy was made for trouble. First the horcrux instant, then the little hallway duel, and now he was missing. What in Merlin's name had happened to the obedient, silent boy he'd known for over four years? He was acting positively Gryffindor.

"Do you have any idea where he might be? Forbidden Forest? Lake? On a date with the Giant Squid?" He asked them, the fatigue slowly drifting away.

"No sir. We didn't search through the Forest because we aren't permitted, but I doubt he's there. I saw him enter Hogwarts, and I've been looking for him ever since", Lily Evans didn't look too happy with his little attempt at humor. In fact, she looked extremely serious.

"He hasn't been to any meals since breakfast, sir. And none of his Housemates have seen him all day", Harry Potter continued, "He's not the type to just disappear, something may have happened to him."

The boy didn't sound so convinced of what he was saying. He had probably been badgered into supporting Lily's search. The things these teenage boys did for the girls they fancied…

"Alright. That seems to merit a discussion with the Headmaster, I suppose", Slughorn said eventually. Personally, he believed it was a prank. A prank to fool the unsuspecting Gryffindors, to make them worry, he didn't put it past his Slytherins to do such a thing. But there was no harm in turning the issue to the Headmaster anyway. Merlin knew he wouldn't be disturbed at all by being woken up at four in the morning.

He stood up from his seat and gestured for the two students to stand up as well. They followed.

"We're going to go see the Headmaster now, since you two probably won't go back to bed since you're so worried", he decided, "and Professor Dumbledore deserves to lose a little sleep."

Neither of them looked merry at his second attempt at lightening the situation. The Evans girl looked serious and worried, and Harry Potter looked bored and tired. He led them out of his quarters, this being the second time he had taken a student to see the headmaster in the middle of the night. The second time in only two weeks.

They followed him silently, as if worried that their footsteps would wake the castle. Before he reached the end of the dungeon, he paused. It would probably be better to first affirm whether this was an actual issue. He'd still go the headmaster even if it was a prank (just to bother the old codger), but he didn't need to lose sleep over it.

"Wait here for a moment", he instructed, rounding the corner and heading to the Slytherin portrait. The snarling man in the painting immediately opened up upon seeing him, and he stepped into the Slytherin common room.

"Tibby", he called softly.

A moment later, a young House Elf materialized in front of him. It bowed deeply.

"What may Tibby do for Master of Slytherin, sir?"

"Wake up one of Severus Snape's roommates _quietly _and bring him to me. Tell him Professor Slughorn wishes to see him", he instructed. The small creature bowed and nodded, disappearing.

He sat down on one of the green chairs, making himself comfortable. A moment later, a sleepy blond boy in a velvety green nightgown appeared at the top of the stairs, betraying none of his tiredness as he walked down the stairs and stood opposite to him. It seemed the elf had decided to bring Marius Avery. He'd known the boy's father very well, a well known death eater, but a cunning, brilliant man besides.

"Hello Professor Slughorn", he greeted.

Slughorn nodded at him, "Mr. Avery. I hope you are not too inconvenienced by the time. I called you to ask you about the whereabouts of a student."

Avery nodded, "I suppose that would be Severus Snape?"

"Yes", he responded. Aha, so it was a prank. They'd probably helped Snape hide in his room to make the Evans girl worry. Teenagers and their strange pranks.

"He's missing", the boy said bluntly.

Missing? So this was serious? He was sure anything the boy said to him was true; they wouldn't lie to their Head of House. So Snape really was missing. Slughorn felt a tingle of worry start in his stomach.

"Why didn't you come to me?" He demanded.

"We were going to. Two Gryffindors were searching for him earlier this morning, that's when we noticed he was missing. But Severus is a rather solitary person, and we do not see him very often, so we decided to give him until tomorrow morning to show up. If he hadn't, we would have come to you", he explained.

"Who is we?" Slughorn asked curiously.

"Myself, Augustus Rookwood, and Adrian Mulciber", the boy responded.

He sat back in thought. Now the matter really needed to be relayed to the Headmaster, it seemed to be serious. A student missing for over twelve hours…

"Thank you for your help. You may go", Slughorn dismissed the Avery boy and stood up, turning around and walking back out the portrait.

Lily Evans and Harry Potter were waiting outside, leaning against the wall. They looked up anxiously as he came closer.

"What were you doing, professor?" Evans asked.

"I was checking with a roommate of his", he told her, "who claims not to have seen him. We will continue to the Headmaster's Office."

He led the two students up the stairs and out of the dungeons, and then to the highest floor. He set a fair pace, but they seemed anxious and wanted to walk faster. When they finally reached the while stone Gargoyle, he mentioned for the students to stop.

"Chocolate Truffles", he pronounced. The password had been changed since he had barged in the last time with Snape. Now it would probably be changed again since the two Gryffindors had heard it. He gestured for them to follow him up the spiral staircase and they followed. The Evans girl walked slowly, looking around in awe at everything she laid eyes on. She had probably never been to the Headmaster's office before. The Potter boy didn't look around.

The office was dim. He paused a moment and then called out.

"Headmaster Dumbledore. There is an issue to be brought to your notice."

At the end of the sentence, the room suddenly lit up, as if he'd been awake and waiting for the words. Albus Dumbledore walked out from the back of the desk, where he knew there was a door that led to the Headmaster's bedroom.

"Hello again, Horace. You seem to be making a habit of this", Dumbledore addressed him, twinkling. He turned to the two students.

"Hello there, Ms. Evans and Mr. Harry Potter", he smiled softly at them, "Sit down. Would you like a chocolate truffle? I've noticed that no one seems to accept my Lemon Drops anymore."

"No thank you, sir. We've come because a student is missing", Lily said seriously, seating herself into a chair opposite the desk, "we're worried about him."

"Which student, Ms. Evans?" He inquired, not at all disappointed by the refusal of his new treat.

"Severus Snape, sir", Harry Potter answered.


End file.
